Men’s Soccer Hangs on for 5-3 Win at UNE

BIDDEFORD, Maine – The University of New England threatened late with two goals in a two-minute span with less than 15 minutes to go in the second stanza, but Suffolk men's soccer held off a Nor'Easters comeback to take a 5-3 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory Tuesday afternoon at Barbara J. Hazard Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | UNE 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-5-1, 3-2-0 CCC) | UNE (1-11-1, 0-5-0 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Less than two minutes into the action, 1:58 minutes to be exact, Suffolk got on the board. On Edward Abouzeid's throw in Brady Sorensen back headed the ball from the right side of the goal to Nigel Leo waiting on the left, who quickly kicked the rock in to give the Rams a one-goal edge early on.  

A dozen minutes later, the distance doubled thanks to Tommy Handelsman header off a corner kick feed from. Leo. The Rams' rookie connected on with the graduate student's corner kick and put the ball away on the right-hand side to give the blue-and-gold a 2-0 lead at the 15:24 minute mark. 

That two-goal gap did not stay long as the shutout was eliminated by Luke Gould who intercepted a Suffolk back pass, which pulled Tom Bennett out of possession and allowed Gould's sliding shot to slid into the net to trim the Rams' advantage down to one, 2-1, with just under 20 minutes to play in the first.  

Suffolk restored its two-goal margin in the 365th minute when freshman Miguel Varela slipped as pass ahead to his classmate Erik Van Even, who was just ahead of the Nor'Easters backline for a one-on-one with Sean McCarthy. McCarthy charged the ball, which allowed Van Even to go to the left of the keeper's grasp and push the cushion back to two, 3-1, with just under 10 minutes to go before intermission.  

Little excitement came over the second set of 45 minutes until Varela found the back of the net on a highlight-reel feed from Van Even. The rookies raced down the pitch with UNE defender between them and McCarthy in front. Van Even quickly sideswiped a pass to Varela for a one-time scoring kick into the left part of the net, which made it a 4-1 Suffolk score at the 68:47-minute mark.   

UNE answered that marker with one of its own six minutes later. Gavin Mason lofted a high ball towards the Rams net. Bennett went out to punch the ball away from threatening territory, however, Chris Caizazzo was also there. Caizazzo won the challenge and headed the ball home to restore the two-goal game, 4-2, with 13:10 left in regulation.

The Nor'Easters excitement barely cooled off from Caizazzo's marker before the hosts scored again as Alex Woodworth found the back of the twine five seconds later. A cluster right in front of Suffolk's net caused Bennett to be out of position and Woodworth capitalized with a goal. Brenden Waterman aided on the strike that cut Suffolk's lead to one, 4-3. 

Suffolk had to play cautiously the rest of the way especially when UNE had a free kick 10 yards in front of Bennett. Thankfully nothing came from the opportunity and the Rams clung to their lead.  

The Rams held off all the threats that came from the University of New England including a late shot by John Upton that was blocked by the blue-and-gold's backline. 

Insurance came with 17 seconds left on the clock from Leo as he put away a pass from Van Even. Bennett set up the score as he booted a ball to midfield. A Nor'Easter got the first touch, but the bounce landed on Leo's boot. Leo dished ahead to Sorensen, who crossed to Van Even. Van Even dragged the ball to the right edge of the box, which drew both UNE's defense and Tristan O'Hagan, who relieved McCarthy in net, over and freed up a cutting Leo for a wide-open goal into the left-hand side of the net.   

KEEPING UP WITH THE KEEPERS

• Bennett recorded the victory with a six-save effort. 
• McCarthy and O'Hagan each had four stops to their credit.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Leo led Suffolk's five goal offense with two markers and one assist. 
• Van Even provided two assists and one goal. 
• Varela logged one goal and assist, respectively. 
• Handelsman rounded out the Rams' goal scorers with one tally. 
• Sorensen set-up two scores, while Abouzeid had one handout. 
• Suffolk held the upper hand in shots, 20-14, and shots on goal, 13-9. 
• UNE had more corners, 7-6.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and UNE met for the first time. 
• Suffolk scored a season-best five goals. The five goals are the most for the Rams in the Bill Maddock era and most since putting six goals away in a 6-2 win at Anna Maria Oct. 2, 2019. 
• Leo is on a two-game point streak. 
• Leo matched his Suffolk career-high in points (5), goals (2) and assists (1). 
• Van Even produced a personal-best in points (4) and assists (2) and matched a career-high one goal. 
• Van Even scored a goal and set-up one goal in the same game for the first time in his collegiate career. 
• Sorensen set-up a career-high two shots. 
• Handelsman notched his first collegiate goal.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

COMING UP
Suffolk takes its two-game CCC win streak to Endicott this Saturday, Oct. 16 for a 4 p.m. kick-off.