NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Mount Ida senior defender Peter Sliva (Glens Fall, N.Y.) scored the lone goal of the game to help the Mustangs to a 1-0 shutout victory over the Norwich University in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer action on Saturday night on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.
The results marks the first win in Northfield in six tries for Mount Ida, and just their second win in their eleven meetings with the Cadets.
Just over a minute into the second half, Sliva buried a low shot into the far left corner of the net off a nice pass in the box from Nick Rivas-Vasquez (Hamden, Conn.) for what proved to the difference in the high-intensity conference finale.
Norwich's (11-5-2, 5-2-2 GNAC) best chance of the game came with six seconds left in the first half when sophomore midfielder Moab Schiers (South Weber, Utah) drilled a shot off the crossbar after Chris Bristol (Clinton, Conn.) played the ball over to him on a hurried corner kick.
Norwich also had a goal called back in the second half after Ryan Curley (East Haddam, Conn.) was whistled for being offside after he beat Mount Ida goalkeeper Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) with a low shot to the left corner of the net.
Pils' aggressiveness coming off his line to challenge Norwich service attempts frustrated the Cadet offense for much of the game. He also made three saves to pick up his fifth shutout of the season and fifteenth of his career, and improve his record to 8-6-1.
NU senior goalkeeper Christian Hallstrom (Las Vegas, Nev.) made five saves for the Cadets to fall to 11-5-2 on the year.
Norwich outshot Mount Ida 11-10 and had five corner kicks to the Mustangs' two.
The Mustang's last win over Norwich came in 2009, with a 4-2 win in Newton. Mount Ida (8-7-1, 4-4-1 GNAC) deals the Cadets their second straight home loss and just their third in the last two seasons on their own turf.
The Mustangs have secured no lower than the #6 seed in the conference tournament. They will await their final seeding after this evening's other GNAC contests conclude.
Meanwhile, Mount Ida will wrap up their regular season when they travel to Brandeis on Monday night to face the nationally ranked Judges at 7:00 pm.
Despite the loss, Norwich had already clinched second place in the GNAC standings. The Cadets will host a GNAC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup next Saturday, Nov. 1 at a time to be determined.