Men's Soccer Captures First Home Win of the Season

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's soccer team edged visiting Johnson & Wales University, 1-0, to collect their first home win of the year in a non-conference battle at Leary Field Tuesday night. With the win, the Blazers improve to 2-3 overall, while Johnson & Wales drops to 3-3 on the year.

In the eighth minute of play, the Blazers thought they secured a 1-0 lead as senior Connor O'Grady (Somers, Conn.) knocked home a rebound, but was called offside, negating the goal. The Wildcats had their best chance to crack the scoreboard with 8:46 left in the half, as Elms goalkeeper Nicholson Pennant (St. Andrew, Jamaica) impeded the Johnson & Wales attacker, resulting in a penalty kick for the Wildcats. On the ensuing attempt, JWU freshman Tucker MacPherson (Raymond, N.H.) tried to beat Pennant to the left side, but he shot sailed high over the net, preserving the scoreless match heading into the intermission.

With 26:37 remaining in the match, the Blazers finally broke through as Elms senior Rich Vanesse (Somers, Conn.) served a cross to the front of the net, where sophomore Robert Zaino (Avon, Conn.) laid out and headed the ball past Wildcat senior goalie Nick Tolman (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), to stake the Blazers to a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats had chances in the 77^th minute with a trio of chances on the Elms doorstep, but Pennant made three crucial saves to preserve the Blazers lead, and eventual 1-0 victory.

"It feels awesome to get our first win at home," said Elms Head Coach Ben Masse. "[Johnson & Wales] is the best team we've played so far this year. It was a very good win, and a great result for us for a few reason. The win on its own is fantastic, but to get the experience in a game like that is crucial. To be able to withhold [Johnson & Wales] and bent defensively for the last 20 minutes and not break, is something that we'll need as a team going forward. We showed our resiliency today. Once we got our goal, Johnson & Wales came at us hard, and we were able to hold them off, for an extensive period of time with many good goal-scoring chances. Nick [Pennant] was incredible today. What makes him special is that he'll come up with the spectacular save. He'll get scored on and let balls into his net, but when you need him the most, he makes the spectacular save and that's what he did today."

The Wildcats controlled the shot column, 27-8, during the contest. Pennant made a season-high 11 saves for Elms, while Tolman stopped three shots in the loss.

The Blazers will look to continue their winning ways when they host Amherst College at Leary Field on Sunday, September 20^th. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Johnson & Wales hosts Norwich Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER