Men’s Soccer Uses Late Goal to Win Third Straight

Newton, Mass. – The Lasell College men's soccer team used an Evan Gaccione (Westerly, R.I.) goal in the 87^th minute to defeat Clark University 3-2 in a non-conference match on Wednesday afternoon at Taylor Field. Lasell moved to 7-1 overall with the victory, while Clark fell to 4-5 on the year.

Lasell got goals from Gaccione, Mike Skelton (Conway, N.H.) and Nery Guerra(Guatemala City, Guatemala), and keeper Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) made three saves to pick up his seventh victory of the season. Will Van Noppen (Providence, R.I.) scored a pair goals in a losing effort for Clark, and Cougars keeper Ryan King (Brimfield, Mass.) made five saves while taking the loss.

Guerra opened the scoring in the 18^th minute, taking a beautiful pass on the left flank from Gaccione and using a deft touch beat a Clark defender leaving him alone with Cougars keeper King. His well placed shot from the top of the six scraped the bottom of the crossbar as it made its' way into the goal. Guerra's goal was the lone score in the first half, sending the hosts into the intermission with a 1-0 lead.

Skelton gave Lasell a 2-0 lead in the 72^nd minute, settling a ball in the box. He neatly beat a Cougar back to find himself open at the top left corner of the six yard box, and his strike easily found the back of the net. Clark would respond, when Van Noppen brought them within a goal 40 seconds later, courtesy of a nice assist from Vaske Ginjo (Worcester,Mass.). Clark then drew level when Van Noppen's second goal on a cross from Oscar Zapata (Lima, Peru) in the 79^th minute tied the match at 2-2 and set the stage for some late drama.

The Lasers began threatening after the Van Noppen equalizer, and Skelton and Cedric Dybaud (Quincy, Mass.) forced Ryan King into a pair of point blank saves between the 83^rd and 85^th minutes. In the 87^th minute Lasell sprung Skelton down the left flank, and after he drove the touchline and drew the defense he slid a perfect ball through to Gaccione whose shot was nearly cleared off the line by a Clark defender before finding its' way into the net. Lasell was able to kill the final three minutes to get the 3-2 result for their seventh win of the season.

Clark will be back in action on Saturday September 29^th when they host the US Coast Guard Academy, while Lasell will return to their home pitch at Taylor Field on Saturday the 29^th when they square off with Rivier University in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference fixture at 1pm.