Men’s Soccer Drops 3-2 Battle Against Husson in Season Opener

BOSTON – On a day filled with firsts for the Suffolk men's soccer team, the Rams were up against one of the stronger teams in the nation in Husson. Suffolk put together a complete game filled with edge of your seat moments, but ultimately fell to the Eagles, 3-2, Tuesday afternoon at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park. 

The Rams (0-1) controlled the pace of play early, but it was the Eagles (1-0) who asserted themselves, combining a stingy defense and pressing attack. Husson fired an early shot on junior Ianis Teixeira, but the attempt was too high, before capitalizing with a shot from Phil Frost, who was given the go-ahead pass from Josh Bellomo, to put the Eagles up 1-0, at the 12:05 minute mark. 

The Eagles nearly gave themselves a two-goal cushion just three minutes later as Cam Libbey fired a shot, but senior captain Ben Daniels made a defensive save to keep it a one-goal game. The teams traded shots on target with both goalies turning them away as the Rams headed into the locker room trailing, 1-0. 

After the break, the Husson offense kept its pace, as Ian Lee netted a score off Josh Bean's corner thrown in from the left side of the field and to notch his collegiate goal. No more than three minutes ticked off the clock before Lee and Bean teamed up for their second goal of the day. This time, Bean made a corner thrown-in on the right side of the field and Lee was there to pick up the pieces and snuck his second career goal past Teixeira to give the Eagles a commanding 3-0 lead. 

Costantini nearly got one back for the Rams, but the junior midfielder's shot flew over the goal post and Suffolk continued to battle from behind. With the clock winding down Suffolk rallied, however, and got things rolling off a good penalty kick by sophomore midfielder Eugenio Ottino at the 68th minute. 

Determined to put on a show for their home crowd the Rams battled for every minute and Alvin Di got the fans on their feet at the 74th minute mark. The freshman midfielder stormed up the midfield, weaving in and out of players and fired a shot past Andrew Wicklund to make it a 3-2 game. 

First-year Jordan Casey pulled Wicklund out of the net with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation and had an opportunity to even the game, but Martin Lindholm made the defensive save to keep the Eagles ahead and seal the win for Husson.

Suffolk is back in action Saturday, Sept. 5 when it hits the road for the first time as it visits Pine Manor for a 3 p.m. game.