East Providence, RI-Lasell College picked up a 5-2 decision against Johnson & Wales University in GNAC men's soccer play, at Pierce Stadium, on Saturday afternoon.
Lasell jumped out early with a goal from freshman Mike Skelton (Conway, NH) as he tallied his third season goal in the 19th minute, giving Lasell the 1-0 lead. Lasell controlled the tempo of the game throughout the first half, but the hosting Wildcats were finally able to knot the score at 1-1 with just under a minute to play in the first half. Dennis Gold (Lakewood, OH) scored the goal on a breakaway opportunity.
There was no mistaking who was in charge of the second half as Lasell scored early on with a mark by Shane Vinnicombe (Pomfret Center, Conn.), at 55:18. Vinnicombe scored unassisted taking off down the middle of the field to score on the Wildcat's goalkeeper.
Skelton fed a pass to sophomore Kyle Cronin (Weymouth, Mass.) at the 70:30 mark to score what would prove to be the game-winnner. Cronin took a shot from 10 yards out to bring the Lasers to a 3-1 lead.
Eric Fournier (Meriden, Conn.) was awarded a penalty kick in the 80th minute which he was able to capitalize on for an insurance goal, followed by an own goal scored at 82:53 to pull Lasell further ahead, at 5-1.
Johnson & Wales was able to scoot one more goal into the Lasers net late in the period before the final horn sounded, however it was too late to make an impact.
Lasell has one final regular season game to play at Brandeis University on Tuesday, October 27th at 7:00 p.m. before heading into the GNAC tournament. The Lasers will host the first round of the tournament on Saturday, October 31st at 1:00 p.m.