Elms Goes 1-1 at Vassar Invitational

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 6, 2014) – Three different Brewers found the back of the net, as Vassar defeated Elms College 3-1 Saturday afternoon in the first game of the 2014 Vassar Invitational. The hosts never trailed in the game, using two first half scores and an insurance goal in the second to seal the victory. Vassar moves to 3-0-1 on the year with the win, while Elms drops to 0-2-1 on the season with the loss.

The match got off to a rough start, as play was suspended in the opening five minutes due to lightning in the area of the Prentiss Sports Complex. Action finally resumed at 3:08, and the Brewers went to work re-focused on the game at hand.

It wasn't until the 37^th minute that VC broke through the Blazer defense, as senior Andre Cousineau (Altadena, CA/Eagle Rock) found an open channel down the right side of the field. He played a swift cross off the right foot to junior Cosmo Veneziale (Garden City, NY/Garden City), who played a spectacular header into the left corner of the cage to put his side up 1-0.

It appeared the Brewers would take that one goal lead into halftime, but senior Justin Mitchell (Layton, UT/Northridge) manufactured one last scoring chance with only seconds left on the clock. Mitchell played a ball through the 18-yard box and collected a deflection off the Blazer keeper to give VC a 2-0 advantage before time expired.

Elms got on the board in the 50^th minute, after a long ball from junior Connor O'Grady (Somers, Conn) 70 yards out reached the box. Senior teammate Angel Castro got his head on the ball between two Brewer defenders, and scored on the right side of the net to cut the lead to 2-1.

Vassar buckled down and prevented the comeback opportunity in the 62^nd minute, as Veneziale played in a tight cross from the right side. Sophomore Andreas Freund (San Francisco, CA/Marin Acad.) was waiting to finish a shot past the diving Blazer keeper, and gave Vassar insurance heading into the game's closing minutes.

Elms gets back to action Tuesday, September 8th when they travel to Springfield College at 7:00 p.m.