Men’s Soccer Falls To Rivier In Overtime, 3-2

Box Score

NASHUA, NH – Elms College junior midfielder Justin Pearson (Torrington, CT) netted the game-tying goal in the 86th minute, but Rivier College’s Chris Nugent (Camberley, England) connected for the game-winning goal eight minutes into overtime to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Raiders to a 3-2 victory over the Blazers in Tuesday evening’s non-conference men’s soccer game at Raider Field.

With the loss, Elms falls to 4-13 overall, while Rivier improves to 4-12 on the season.

Elms junior Chris Silva (Chicopee, MA) continued to find the scoring touch, blasting his fourth goal of the season in the eighth minute of play to give the Blazers an early 1-0 advantage.

Rivier responded with a goal just five minutes later as Ford Coates (Raymond, NH) scored on a feed from Brian Joaquim (Mount Vernon, NH) to even the score at 1-1.

Nugent put the Raiders ahead at the 21:46 mark when he corralled a pass from Gustavo Marques (Lowell, MA) and sent it to the back of the net to give Rivier a 2-1 lead at the break.

Rivier maintained its lead for the first 41 minutes of the second period before Pearson beat Raiders’ goalkeeper Matt St. Peter (Colchester, VT) with a score to the far left corner to give the Blazers life and force an overtime period for the second straight game.

The Raiders sealed their victory when Coates drilled a long centering pass to Mike Birecki (Andover, MA) who played the ball off his head to the foot of Nugent who capitalized with his second goal of the game.

Elms sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Sullivan (Agawam, MA) collected six saves in the losing effort, while St. Peter finished with five for Rivier.

Elms concludes regular season action when it hosts Becker in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest. Game time is slated for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Leary Field.