Rolocut Propels Men's Soccer Past Southern Vermont

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's soccer team rebounded from an early goal from visiting Southern Vermont College to defeat the Mountaineers, 3-1, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) match at Leary Field Tuesday afternoon. With the win, the Blazers improve to 6-9 on the season, and 4-1 in NECC play, while Southern Vermont drops to 2-4 in league play, and 4-11 overall.

Southern Vermont wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, firing three shots in the opening minute, two of which Elms senior goalkeeper Christian Kostka (Oxford, Conn.) denied until Mountaineer freshman Kieran Enright (Perth, Australia) put the final shot into an open net, giving Southern Vermont an early 1-0 lead.

In the 17^th minute of play, Blazers senior Lorenzo Rolocut (Somers, Conn.) registered his first strike of the day, gathering a pass from sophomore Kahlil Peters (Hartford, Conn.) and chipping a long shot over the head of Mountaineer freshman goalie Noah Chani (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) to knot the contest at 1-1.

Just over 10 minutes later, Rolocut raced after a loose ball towards the Mountaineers goal line and ripped a cross to the front of the net, where senior Patrick Goonan (Chicopee, Mass.) delivered the finishing touch to the back of the net, putting Elms up 2-1. The Blazers maintained their 2-1 lead into intermission.

In the 56^th minute of play, Rolocut was whistled for being offsides, negating a goal. On the ensuing free kick, Rolocut leaped at the attempt from Chani, which ricocheted off Rolocut and into the goal, extending the Blazers advantage to 3-1. The Elms defense limited the Mountaineers to three shots in the second half, securing the 3-1 victory.

"I feel like our performance could've been better on an individual basis," said Elms College Head Coach Ben Masse. "I thought our work rate and intensity could've been higher, and our focus and communication could've been better. Those are things we can fix moving forward. Today, we were good enough to win, but we have to get better to continue the roll we are on. Were able to rest some players who needed a rest, which was nice. Obviously our next match is huge, it could determine home-field advantage for the conference postseason, and a big rematch from the championship game last year. We are looking to avenge the lost, but overall I'm looking for us to put together the pieces we've been building since preseason. If we do that, the result will come."

The Blazers dominated the shot column, 25-7, during the contest. Kostka made five saves for Elms, while Chani stopped 10 shots in the loss. Rolocut contributed on all three Blazer goals, registering two goals and an assist.

The Blazers return to action in a 2014 NECC Championship game rematch against Daniel Webster College at Leary Field Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Southern Vermont travels to Newbury College for a conference game Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER