Men's Soccer Edges Emmanuel, 3-2, on Late Second Half Goal

BOSTON, Mass. – The Anna Maria men's soccer team used a late second half goal to power past Emmanuel College, 3-2, Saturday afternoon at Roberto Clemente Field in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. With the win, the AMCats improve to 2-7 overall and notch their first GNAC win to improve to 1-2 in conference play while the loss drops the Saints to 2-4-2 overall and 1-2 in the GNAC.

With the score deadlocked at 2-2 late in the match, freshman Salvatore Gualtieri (Comack, N.Y.) threaded a through ball from the midfield to the feet of freshman Derrick Casey (Worcester, Mass.). The midfielder took one touch towards goal before finding the side netting for his second goal of the year at 73:48 to give Anna Maria the 3-2 advantage.

Emmanuel had a few chances to tie down the stretch including a rocket of a shot from sophomore midfielder Colin O'Donnell (Killingworth, Conn.) that got through the arms of junior goalkeeper Elliot Kuzma (East Haven, Conn.) but the keeper was able to secure the ball on the end line to preserve the 3-2 win.

In the first half of play, AMC got on the board first, scoring just 6:50 into the contest to make it 1-0. Freshman John Isperduli (Paxton, Mass.) played a left footed cross to sophomore Christopher Mattioli (Sturbridge, Mass.) who blasted a one-time shot into the lower right hand corner of the goal for his third goal of the year.

The Saints answered in the 26th minute as senior forward James Carroll (Guilford, Conn.) converted a pass from junior midfielder David Field (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) past Kuzma to even the score at 1-1.

Anna Maria regained the lead on Gualtieri's first goal of the year following a scrum after an AMCat's corner kick. Gualtieri found the ball at his feet and was able to hammer the rebound past Emmanuel senior keeper Garrett Charette (West Springfield, Mass.) to make it 2-1.

Emmanuel wasted no time to tie the game at 2-2, scoring the equalizer just two minutes later. Sophomore defender Jeff Allen (South Windsor, Conn.) attempted a shot from the left side of the box that Kuzma was able to make a diving save to his weak side before freshman midfielder Cameron Messier (Belchertown, Mass.) cleaned up the rebound for his first collegiate goal at the 40:35 marker of the first half.

Kuzma ended the afternoon with six saves and improves to 1-1 on the year while Charette also made six saves in the losing effort.

Anna Maria returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 30 when they host WPI at 4:30 PM while Emmanuel is back on Wednesday, Oct. 1 when they host Emerson College at 7:00 PM.

Courtesy of Emmanuel Sports Information