O’Grady Nets Two Goals to Help Lift Men’s Soccer to 3-2 Comeback Win Over New England College

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore midfielder Adam O'Grady (Somers, Conn.) scored a pair of goals including what stood to be the game winner as the Blazers erased a 2-0 halftime deficit to down New England College (NEC) 3-2 in Saturday afternoon's season-opening non-conference men's soccer game at Leary Field.

With the win, Elms improves to 1-0 overall, while NEC falls to 0-2 to start its season.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first 45 minutes of play, Elms mounted a furious rally as sophomore forward Ziggy Jonathan (Springfield, Mass.) delivered a through ball to O'Grady who forced the keeper from his post and tapped in the goal to set the score at 2-1 at the 51:53 mark.

With 23:48 remaining in the second half, O'Grady found freshman forward Joseph Coleman (Easthampton, Mass.) who buried the ball in the back of the net to even the score at 2-2.

Fourteen minutes and 12 seconds later, O'Grady was awarded a penalty kick and delivered a blast into the back of the net over NEC's diving goalkeeper giving the Blazers a 3-2 edge with 9:36 to play in the game.

From there, the Pilgrims had opportunities to score, but Blazers' senior goalkeeper Ryan Sullivan (Agawam, Mass.) (1-0) kept NEC off the board for the rest of the game as he finished with 10 saves and is now seven shy of tying the program's all-time saves record.

Pilgrim's net-minder Robbie Fuller (Lyndeborough, N.H.) notched three saves but suffered the loss and is 0-1 on the season.

NEC found a rhythm early, scoring 2:14 into the game when Zak Harris (Bennington, Vt.) connected with Mark Mangini (Derry, N.H.) on a cross in the box to give the Pilgrims a 1-0 lead.

At the 28:32 mark of the first half, Christopher Welch (Reading, Mass.) applied some fancy footwork and delivered the Pilgrims' second goal of the contest to give NEC a 2-0 cushion after the first 45 minutes of play.

Elms returns to non-conference action on Thursday, Sept. 8 when it travels to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) for a 7:00 p.m. contest.