Blazers Snag First GNAC Appearance Win vs Lasell

Chicopee, MA – The Elms Blazers men's soccer team won their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) appearance against Lasell University yesterday evening 2-1.

THE BASICS:

SCORE: Elms 2 | Lasell 1
RECORDS: Elms (2-0-0, 1-0-0 GNAC) | Lasell (0-1-0, 0-1-0 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Both teams had strong performances with the first goal being scored in the final minutes of the first half. At 40 minutes, Justin Szwajkowski (Westhampton, MA) knocked one in, scoring the first goal of the game off an assist from Devon Polletta (Prospect, CT).

In the second half, Lasell put up a point on the board to tie it up with Dan Faynstein scoring unassisted. With 13 minutes left on the clock and the scored tied both teams were leaving it all on the field. To break the tie with 2:20 left on the clock, Musa Jiana (Brikama, Gambia) scored an assisted goal for the win. Elms held Lasell off for the last few minutes, to capture their second conference win of the season.

 INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Justin Szwajkowski, Devon Polletta, Musa Jiana, Matt Reismann, Brandyn Costa, Andwele Salmon, Michael Lemke and Lance Peterkin all saw shots.

- Collin Liedke saw 4 saves for the day.

FROM THE DESK OF COACH WYSOCKI:

"Wow... What a great way to introduce ourselves into the GNAC. We knew it would be a battle. These games will always be. Michael at Lasell trains a tough team that's always up for the occasion. But we stuck to our gameplan and what we wanted to do. To score in the last 5 minutes of the first half, and then again in the last 5 of the second, is a testament to these guys' mentality. They didn't give up until the final whistle, and they earned their result today. I'm very happy with the performance and the result, and now we're 1-0 in conference play! It's a great start to the season, and we'll enjoy it tonight, but tomorrow, we're focused on the next task: Dean."

UP NEXT:

- The Blazers are on the road again this weekend, continuing their conference play Wednesday 9/8 against Dean College for a 4PM start.

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