Late Goal Propels Men’s Soccer Past Raiders

Paxton, Mass. – Senior Jamison Crowley (Southington, Conn.) broke a 1-1 deadlock with just over five minutes remaining in the game to propel the Anna Maria College men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Rivier University in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at a soggy AMCAT field on Wednesday afternoon. With the win the AMCAT move to 4-11 (3-5 GNAC) while the Raiders fall to 1-12-1 (1-6-1 GNAC).

Rivier potted the only goal of the first half. With a strong surge at AMCAT netminder Elliot Kuzma (East Haven, Conn.), the Raiders' sophomore Alex Armstrong (Wakefield, RI) collected a sprayed ball at the top of the box and drilled a low hard shot inside the left post for the 1-0 lead.

In a well played first half Anna Maria outshot Rivier 13-8 and held the advantage in corner kicks 5-2. Sophomore Christopher Mattioli (Sturbridge, Mass.) and junior Jeff Fletcher (Oxnard, Calif.) paced the AMCATS with a pair of shots on goal.

The AMCATS would notch the game at 1-1 in the 63^rd minute. With fresh legs off the bench senior Michael Quirk (Rockfall, Conn.) beat the Raider defense down the left wing and laced a low crossing pass to a diving Mattioli, who headed the pass inside the right corner for his sixth goal of the season.

Crowley would net the game-winner with 5:06 left in the second stanza. Freshman Derrick Casey (Worcester, Mass.) found a wide open Crowley in the middle from the right wing, who then deposited the ball into the back of the net for the 2-1 victory.

AMCAT goaltender Kuzma finished with five saves on the day en route to his third win of the season, while his counterpart Gary Archambault (Auburn, NH) posted ten saves in the loss.

The AMCATS will honor their graduating seniors in a pre-game ceremony on Friday afternoon when they host GNAC rival Lasell at 4:00pm on AMCAT field.