Norton, Mass. – September 20, 2008 – Sophomores Yuri Moreira (Marlboro, Mass.) and Josh Solomon (Acton, Mass.) scored twice apiece, lifting the regionally-ranked Wheaton College men’s soccer team past Springfield College, 4-2 during each team’s New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener on Saturday at Keefe Field.
The Lyons are now 3-1-2, while the Pride fell to 2-3-1.
Wheaton, which is ranked fourth in New England by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), moved to 15-1-1 in the all-time series, winning its 10th straight against Springfield while opening defense of its third consecutive NEWMAC Tournament title.
Springfield had the earliest golden opportunity to score, as junior John Plourd (Southampton, Mass.) broke in on net during the seventh minute and sent a shot toward the cage, but a Wheaton defender cleared the ball off the goal line. Less than three minutes later, the Lyons broke the stalemate, as Solomon converted off a give-and-go with sophomore Eric Driscoll (Lexington, Mass.) at 9:10.
The hosts headed into halftime with the narrow 1-0 edge despite a 10-4 advantage in shots, as Moreira nearly scored midway through the period when he chipped a pass to himself during a one-on-three break and narrowly missed the left side of the goal.
Just after halftime, Solomon took a touch off a corner kick from sophomore Kyle Sye (Acton, Mass.) and crossed to Moreira, who put home his first marker at 47:48. Just 1:41 later, Pride junior Aled Hollingworth (Atlanta, Ga.) collected the rebound of a teammate’s blocked shot and found the right side of the net to make it 2-1.
However, Wheaton quickly responded, as Solomon tallied at 52:09 after freshman Pablo Mena’s (San Salvador, El Salvador) long pass bounced over the defense, and Moreira pushed the Lyons to a three-goal advantage at 57:29 after Mena sent him a short cross into the box and just over the keeper. Freshman Eric Stalsburg (Old Saybrook, Conn.) scored Springfield’s final goal with 3:21 remaining in regulation.
Sophomore Cole Davidson (Needham, Mass.) turned away four Pride shots, as his team held edges of 16-12 in shots and 6-5 in corner kicks, while Solomon finished with a career-high five points and his second game-winning goal of the season. Sophomore Drew Keleher (Columbia, Conn.) made one save for Springfield.
Wheaton turns around and travels to Williams College tomorrow for a 1:30 p.m. contest. The Ephs are ranked second in New England by the NSCAA and 10th nationally.
