Men’s Soccer Falls to Lesley University, 4-2

SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore midfielder Safa Saady (Baghdad, Iraq) netted a goal and assisted on another, but Lesley University used four scoring strikes from Erik Johansen (West Harrison, N.Y.) to propel the Lynx to a 4-2 victory over the Blazers in Saturday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's soccer game at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville, Mass.

With the loss, Elms moves to 7-8-0 overall, 3-2-0 in NECC action, while Lesley improves to 8-6-2 on the season, 3-2-1 in league action.

Johansen gave Lesley a two goal advantage in the first half, scoring in the 31^st minute on a feed from Walker Panek (Carlsbad, Calif.) and then on a pass from Mahmoud Chabarek (Allepo, Syria) in the 40^th minute.

Johansen connected for his third goal of the contest at the 59:50 mark following a pass from Chris Hunt (San Diego, Calif.) to extend the Lynx's advantage to 3-0 before Elms' senior forward Ziggy Jonathan (Springfield, Mass.) put the Blazers on the board following a pass from Saady in the 64^th minute of play.

Panek found Johansen with a pass for his fourth goal of the contest at the 82:04 mark and Saady scored on a free kick 1:33 later to cap the scoring in the game with Lesley holding on for a 4-2 win.

Lesley goalkeeper Nathan Trucks (Guilford, Conn.) made four saves in the winning effort, while Blazers' sophomore defender Connor O'Grady (Somers, Conn.) placed two shots on target.

Elms returns NECC action on Wednesday, October 23 at Becker College at 4:00 p.m.