Providence, R.I – Mount Ida men's soccer suffered their first conference loss of the year on Saturday afternoon, getting shutout by Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe Johnson & Wales 3-0 at Scotts Miiracle-Gro Athletics Complex.
Wildcats senior Ray Durski (Monroe, N.J.) scored a pair of goals to lead the hosts, after the two teams battled back and forth throughout a scoreless first half with Mount Ida holding a 6-5 advantage in shots for the stanza.
Senior Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) notched six stops in the loss for Mount Ida, who could not repeat their result from last season when they got a 2-0 win at home against the Wildcats, their first victory in the series since 2008.
Johnson & Wales got on the board when Durski buried a shot into the lower right corner of the net after a pass from senior Kyle Metz (St. James, N.Y.) at the 51:09 mark for the 1-0 lead. The Wildcats added to their lead in the 60th minute when Mount Ida was whistled for a foul just outside the 18 yard box. Durski then blasted in the ensuing free kick to make it a two goal advantage.
Sophomore Xavier Carty (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) capped off the scoring for the day as he put in a shot from 10 yards out after a pass from sophomore Robert Zukofsky (Scotch Plains, N.J.) with just two seconds left on the clock to give the Wildcats the 3-0 victory.
Senior Ryan Dzierzawski (Oakland, Mich.) tallied four saves in goal for JWU.
With the win Johnson & Wales improves to 4-2-1 on the year and 2-0 in the GNAC while Mount Ida drops to 4-3 for the season and 1-1 in league play.
The Mustangs will return to action on Wednesday evening with a home non-conference game against Emerson at 7:00 pm.
The Wildcats will next play on Monday, September 22nd when they travel to Curry for a non-conference contest at 4:00 p.m.