Men’s Soccer Surges Past Mitchell College, 4-1

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College junior midfielder Tavish Leland (Bridgton, Maine) scored two goals and sophomore forward Ziggy Jonathan (Springfield, Mass.) added a score and assisted on two others to help spark the Blazers to a convincing 4-1 victory over Mitchell College in Tuesday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's soccer game.

With the win, Elms snaps its five-game losing streak and improves to 4-10 overall, 2-4 in NECC action, while Mitchell moves to 3-9-1 on the season, 1-4 in league play.

Jonathan put Elms ahead, 1-0 in the 18^th minute of action when he took a pass from freshman forward Joelle Reyes (Lynn, Mass.) and dashed up the center of the field and blasted the game's first goal.

Mitchell answered at the 23:50 mark when James Gleason (Old Lyme, Conn.) scored on a service pass that was played into the box and eventually to his foot, tying the game at 1-1. Tommy Derosier (Bristol, Conn.) and Howie Johnson (New London, Conn.) assisted on the play.

Blazers' freshman defender Conor Rieker (Agawam, Mass.) netted what proved to be the game-winning goal with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first period when he played a corner kick service and had his original shot stopped before drilling it into the net to give Elms a 2-1 lead.

The Blazers added to their lead just four minutes into the second stanza when Jonathan stole the ball away from the Mitchell defense and delivered a centering pass to Leland who scorched the net for the first of his two scoring strikes of the afternoon.

Holding a 3-1 lead, Leland extended the cushion to 4-1 at the 83:40 mark when Jonathan and freshman forward Joseph Coleman (Easthampton, Conn.) connected with Leland who finished with a shot to the back of the net capping Elms' convincing triumph over the Mariners.

Mitchell outshot the Blazers in each half (12-10 and 12-9) but Elms' senior net-minder Ryan Sullivan (Agawam, Mass.) allowed just one goal and made 11 saves to thwart any Mariners' comeback attempts.

Jonathan finished with four shots on net, while Leland and Rieker added three each to lead the Blazers.

Gleason placed three shots on goal, while four other players sent two towards the goal in the losing effort for the Mariners. Goalkeeper Kevin Woodford (Niantic, Conn.) totaled 11 saves.

Elms returns to action on Thursday, Oct. 20 when it travels to Nashua, N.H. to take on Rivier College in a non-conference contest. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.