BOSTON - In a clash of the 3rd and 4th placed Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) teams, Emmanuel Men's Soccer tallied a goal in each half to secure a crucial 2-0 victory over St. Joseph (Conn.) on Tuesday night at Clemente Field. With the win, the Saints improved to 6-4-2, 5-2-2 GNAC while the Blue Jays fell to 7-4-3, 6-1-3 GNAC. Emmanuel has now won three straight matches and are unbeaten in their last six.

Just 10 minutes into the match, Rafael Matamoros slid a pass between defenders towards a chasing Jacob Beck. Beck slid to retrieve the ball in front of the defender, stood up and put the ball onto his left foot to beat Blue Jays goalkeeper Aidan Peterson and give the home side a 1-0 lead. Despite firing 11 shots in the first half, the Saints were unable to score a second goal and entered the break leading by one.

Emmanuel's opportunity to double their score came in the 70th minute. Pierre-Paul Labossiere pushed the ball past the visiting goalkeeper and was taken down inside the penalty area. Joe Anderson stepped up for the Saints, firing the ball high and to his left as Peterson went in the opposite direction to take a 2-0 advantage.

The visitors tallied four of their eight shots in the remaining 20 minutes of play, but could not cut into the lead as the Saints secured a 2-0 victory on their home turf. The win marks the first victory in program history over St. Joseph (Conn.) in six tries.

Maddox Pierce played all 90 minutes in goal and posted one save for Emmanuel to earn the victory. Peterson finished the evening with three saves across the 90 minutes in the loss.

Up next, the Blue Jays return to West Hartford for a matchup with Norwich on Saturday (10/19) at 1:00 PM. Emmanuel remains at Clemente Field for a Senior Day contest with Mitchell on Saturday at 12 PM.