Men's Soccer Recovers From Early Deficit, Claim 2-1 Win at Suffolk

EAST BOSTON –  After going down a goal early, the Emmanuel Saints netted a pair of goals late in the first half, making the difference in ECs 2-1 victory over Suffolk on Wednesday evening.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Emmanuel 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-1-0) | Emmanuel (2-0-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk started the scoring in the 16th minute. Matteo Simonini coasted down the left sideline, crossed the ball in and it carried over the box towards the out-of-bounds line. Tommy Handelsman hustled and kept the ball in on the dive. He brought it back into the Saints box and dished it to Carter Van Buskirk, who right-footed it to the back of the net for the game opener. 

Ten minutes later, Alec Erskine dribbled the rock down the right wing and slipped a pass to Joey Soucy, who picked up the pieces and drilled it into the twine to level the playing field at one apiece. 

Things remained deadlocked until there were less than four minutes to play before intermission. A Suffolk foul set up an Emmanuel free-kick at the 25-yard line. Erskine made it look easy as he lofted it over the wall of Rams' defender and past Xander Balog's glove to send the Saints into the locker room up, 2-1.  

Suffolk had a prime opportunity to get the goal back and even things up once more. In the 66th minute off a corner kick by Van Buskirk, Brady Sorensen took the a shot from close range that was turned aside from Vincent Conelli. Simonini fired a rebound back, but once again Conelli had an answer to keep the Rams in a one-goal, 2-1, hole.  

With just over six minutes remaining on the clock Suffolk saw another chance. This time Handelsman crossed a ball to Miguel Varela at Conelli's right. Varela used his cleat to gather the pass, which drew Conelli out. As the netminder came out, Varela put an attempt high, but a jumping save by Conelli held the score where it was. 

Time was not in Suffolk's favor, and as it ticked off the clock, each Rams try got further and further wide, which allowed Emmanuel to take the game as the final buzzer sounded.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Balog had seven stops in the setback. 
• Conelli contributed 11 saves for the Saints. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Van Buskirk scored Suffolk's lone goal. 
• Handelsman handed out the Rams assist. 
• Suffolk had the upper hand in shots, 22-14, and shots on target, 12-9.
• The Rams had more corner chances, 7-4.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk moved to 11-8-1 all-time against Emmanuel. 
• The Rams are not 6-5-0 when hosting the Saints. 
• Van Buskirk stretched his point streak to three games.  

UP NEXT

• The Saints head to Worcester State for a non-conference tilt on Saturday, September 10 scheduled for an 11:00 AM kickoff.
• Suffolk hosts Emerson the same day at 3:00 PM.

Portions of this release courtesy Suffolk Athletic Communications