October 11, 2010

NEWTON, MA – Mount Ida freshman Phil Basile (Valatie, NY) scored in the 92nd minute to propel the Mustangs (1-11, 1-5 GNAC) past Saint Joseph's (6-6-2, 3-2-1 GNAC), 4-3, in a GNAC Men's Soccer match on Monday afternoon.

The Monks held a 3-1 lead after the first half, but the hosts proceeded to rattle off three unanswered goals in the second stanza and overtime to steal the victory and post their first victory of the 2010 campaign. Joe Happnie '11 (Rockland, MA), Ross Suleski '14 (Amesbury, MA/Saint Thomas Aquinas) and Jesse West '12 (Sheldon, VT) all found the back of the net for the Monks and SJC netminder Nick Campasano '12 (Goffstown, NH) registered five saves in the setback.

St. Joe's struck first with a ninth-minute goal from Happnie, who handled a well-placed through pass from Paul Robins '11 (Cornwall, England) and beat Mount Ida keeper Steven Enright (South Kingston, RI) to put the Monks on the board.

The Mustangs countered just over 14 minutes later, as freshman Carlos Rojas (Stamford, CT) beat Campasano off a Kevin Custodio '14 (Dartmouth, MA) dish to tie the contest at one apiece with 23 minutes left in the opening period.

Suleski scored less than a minute later to provide the Royal Blue with its second advantage of the match. Brandon Noltkamper '11 (Bath, ME) sent a perfect ball into the box on a corner and Suleski delivered a point-blank shot on target that was denied by Enright. The rebound, which deflected off the Mount Ida keeper's chest, went right back to the rookie forward, however, and he finished the play to make it a 2-1 game.

The Monks maintained the momentum and capitalized on a West marker at the 33:03 mark to increase the SJC advantage to 3-1. Jack LaFreniere '13 (Alton, NH) sent a right-to-left cross pass into the box that found an open West, who delivered a perfectly placed head ball into the right side of the net.

Saint Joseph's dominated play in the first half and held advantages in shots (15-6), shots on goal (8-3) and corner kicks (7-0) in the opening stanza, but the complexion of the match changed completely in the second half.

The Mustangs came out firing in the latter half and hit paydirt when Rojas netted his second goal of the game, off a free kick after a yellow card infraction just outside the box, at the 64:13 mark.

 Several Mount Ida scoring opportunities ensued, but the Mustangs weren't able to tie the game until Spencer Hastings '13 (Orlando, FL) scored off another free kick chance in the 78th minute. A hard slide tackling foul by the Monks outside the box handed the hosts a free kick on the right side of the box. Rojas took the free kick and chipped the ball high in the air right in the middle of the net, where Hastings popped a head ball into the right side of the goal to knot the game at three apiece with 13 minutes left in regulation.

The game headed into overtime after neither side was able to punch ahead in the final minutes. The extra frame turned out to be just 1:50 long, however as Basile redirected a Lima shot, taken from the top of the box, into the right corner past a sprawling Campasano to put the Mustangs in the win column.

With the result, St. Joe's and Mount Ida have now played to a 2-2-1 record in the history of the matchup between the GNAC counterparts. For the Mustangs, the win puts an end to a 16-game losing streak dating back to last season.

Saint Joseph's will travel to Norwich University on Saturday, October 16th for a 1:00 PM contest against the Cadets, while Mount Ida is set to host Elms College in a non-league matchup on Thursday at 3:30 PM.