NEWTON, Mass. – The Lasell College men's soccer team took the lead twice in a span of ten minutes to defeat Mount Ida 2-1 in an entertaining Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer game on Homecoming at Alumni Field.
The Lasers stay perfect in the conference at 4-0, and improve to 8-2 this year, while Mount Ida (4-5-1) dips to an even 2-2 in GNAC play.
Junior Ryan Gray (Bayport, N.Y.) scored a brilliant goal in the 58th minute to level the score after the Lasers had opened the scoring with a penalty kick goal of their own. From about fifteen yards out, Gray blasted a shot that buckled underneath the crossbar and just over the head of Lasell goalie Miguel Colmenares (Doral, Fla.) for his second goal of the season.
The eventual game-winner for the visitors came just thirty seconds after Gray's strike, and it was on Conor Fitzgerald's (Marshfield, Mass.) fourth goal of the year.
The Lasers won a corner kick, in fact their only corner kick of the night, and junior Servi Barrientos (Providence, R.I.) delivered a low ball that Fitzgerald tucked just inside the near post as he ran onto it.
That goal came exactly ten minutes from the first goal of the night, which was struck from the penalty spot by Lasers senior Mike Skelton (Conway, N.H.), who netted his team-high seventh goal of the season.
Mount Ida had their first opportunity to break through almost six minutes into the opening half, but Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) had his penalty kick saved by Colmenares.
The teams went to the break scoreless, but the first fifteen minutes of the second half saw a flurry of activity. In between Skelton's penalty kick and Gray's masterful strike, the Mustangs won another penalty, but this one Martinez put over the bar.
Mount Ida goaltender Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) made one stop, while Colmenares made four saves and was helped when his teammate cleared a Mustang shot off of the line, as the Mustangs outshot their opponents 15-10, while winning three corner kicks.
Mount Ida hits the road on Wednesday for a non-conference game in Worcester against Clark, which will kick off at 6:00 pm.
The Lasers will be home on Tuesday afternoon, when they welcome Westfield State in for a 3:30 non-league match.