NEWTON, Mass. (11/6/2013) – The top-seeded Lasell College men's soccer team advanced to their first ever Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship match with a 3-1 victory over fourth-seeded Norwich University on Wednesday afternoon at Taylor Field.
Lasell senior Mike Skelton (Conway, N.H.) scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season, four days after becoming the program's all-time leading scorer. Senior Nery Guerra (Guatemala City, Guatemala) scored his second goal of the season for Lasell, while Servi Barrientos (Providence, R.I.) and Conor Fitzgerald (Marshfield, Mass.) each tallied assists.
Freshmen Alec Brigante (Colchester, Vt.) scored for Norwich, while sophomore Christian Albrecht (Albuquerque, N.M.) notched an assist in the match.
The opening half saw the Lasers control the action early, with several dangerous chances to get on the board. Norwich keeper Christian Hallstrom (Las Vegas, N.V.) put on a spectacular display of goalkeeping to keep Norwich in the game, coming up with saves twice after being alone with a Lasell attacker in the opening 12 minutes of play. Norwich cleared a ball off the line in the 18th minute then Hallstrom denied Cedric Dybuad (Quincy, Mass.) on the doorstep to keep the match scoreless. Brennan Adams (Southbury, Conn.) saw his diving header slide just wide of the post and Lasell appeared to be on the verge of getting on the scoreboard.
The Cadets settled in a bit and began to gain some momentum as the opening half was coming into the final ten minutes. Norwich looked to have taken a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute but had their goal waived off on an offside call, and the teams went into half ted at 0-0.
Norwich capitalized on a defensive breakdown by the Lasers in the 56th minute when Brigante took down a feed from Albrecht just inside the top of the 18 yard box and drove a well struck ball past Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) for a 1-0 Norwich lead.
Lasell equalized in the 59th minute when Skelton free kick from 22 yards out cleared the Norwich wall and curled into the upper left corner of the net, not evening giving Halstrom a chance to make a play. Skelton would put the Lasers in front 2-1 when a ball from Conor Fitzgerald was deflected to his feet at the top of the 6-yard box and his shot found its way through traffic and into the net.
Nery Guerra finished off the scoring with a surgical strike from the top left corner of the 18 yard box on a feed from Barrientos, sending the Lasers to the GNAC Championship.
Colmenares made four saves in the match for Lasell while Hallstrom was otherworldly with nine saves in the match for Norwich. The Lasers outshot Norwich 28-12 and had a 6-2 edge in corners.
Lasell will host Johnson and Wales on Sunday November 10th at 1:00 p.m. in the GNAC championship as the Lasers look to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.