Oct. 5, 2011

Box Score

BOSTON, MASS. - The Emmanuel College men's soccer team used three second half goals, rallying from a 2-0 halftime deficit to come-from-behind and defeat Suffolk University, 3-2, Wednesday evening at Clemente Field in Boston, Mass. The Saints made a bit of history in the comeback as it was the first time in program history that a team has comeback from a two-goal deficit to record a win. With the victory, Emmanuel improves to 7-3-4 overall and 3-3 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference while the loss drops the Rams to 4-8 and 3-3 in GNAC play.

The comeback began in the 57th minute of action when sophomore midfielder Ryan Brady (Springfield, Vt.) ripped a shot from just inside the 18-yard box that was headed towards the open left side of the goal before a Suffolk defender intentionally blocked the shot with his hands to save the goal from being score. The defender was sent off the field with a red card forcing the Rams to play a man down for the remainder of the contest and following the card, senior midfielder Mathew Koenemann (Montpelier, Vt.) netted his fourth goal of the year on the ensuing penalty kick, just beating freshman keeper James Potter (North Kingston, R.I.) with a shot to the lower right post to pull the Saints to within a goal at 2-1.

With the momentum and a man-up advantage on the Saints side, play shifted from one end of the field to the other as Emmanuel began to bombard Potter with several good scoring chances until junior forward Kevin Shirley (Madison, Conn.) netted the equalizer at the 72:11 mark, heading home a corner kick taken by sophomore forward Allan Parrelli (Reading, Mass.), squaring the match at 2-2.

The Saints continued to push and would complete the comeback when Koenenmann sent a perfectly threaded pass from the midfield past the Rams last defender to freshman forward James Carroll (Guilford, Conn.) who was able to take one touch before finding the back of the net for his fourth marker of the season to propel Emmanuel to the 3-2 conference victory.

In the first half of play, Suffolk dominated all aspects of the game, outshooting the Saints 12-5 while holding a 3-0 advantage on corner kicks. The Rams got on the board first just 12:39 into the contest when senior forward Danny Lloyd (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) netted his team-leading 10th goal of the season, finishing a feed from freshman midfielder Niang Djibril (Dakar, Senegal) to give the Rams a 1-0 advantage.

The visitors would increase the lead to 2-0 when freshman forward Andres Cohen (Caracas, Venezuela) beat Emmanuel freshman keeper Garrett Charette (West Springfield, Mass.) with a shot from inside the 18 with the assist coming from Lloyd during the 24th minute of play. The Rams would take the 2-0 advantage into halftime before the Saints second half heroics that saw them outshoot Suffolk 16-5 in the second stanza for a game shot total of 21-17 in favor of the hosts.

Charette notched the win making five saves in goal for the Saints while Potter turned away eight shots for the Rams.

Emmanuel will return to action on Saturday, October 8 when they head to Weston, Mass. to take on Regis College in a non-conference game scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. while Suffolk returns to the pitch the same afternoon, taking on Lasell College in Newton, Mass. in GNAC tilt with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.