Men's Soccer Defeats Albertus Magnus 2-1 for 9th Straight

Newton, Mass. (10/13/2012) - The Lasell College men's soccer team pulled out a close victory against Great Northeast Athletic Conference rival Albertus Magnus College, defeating the Falcons 2-1 at Taylor Field. The Lasers stand at 13-1 on the season, and are 8-0 in the GNAC, while Albertus dropped to 11-3-2 on the year and 7-1-1 in the league.

Conor Fitzgerald (Marshfield, Mass.) and Kyle Cronin (Weymouth, Mass.) each scored goals for Lasell, who also got a pair of assists from Mike Skelton (N. Conway, N.H.). Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) made eight saves to earn the win in net for the Lasers. Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) tallied for the Falcons on a Jesse Plona (Trumbull, Conn.) assist, and Donato Piroscafo (Nagatuck, Conn.) took the loss in goal for the visitors, making three saves.

Conor Fitzgerald opened the scoring in the 13^th minute taking a feed from Mike Skelton just outside the top of the 18, and hitting a beautiful strike just under the cross bar to put his side in top 1-0. Albertus Magnus had some chances in the later stages of the first half, forcing Colmenares to make six first half saves, and watching a Plona strike find the crossbar with 20 seconds to play in the half.

Lasell then extended their lead to 2-0 in the 67^th minute when Skelton beat an Albertus defender to the endline, slipping a ball back to Cronin who sent it into the back of the net. Zapata closed the gap to 2-1 in the 72^nd minute courtesy of a Jesse Plona feed, and the visitors started to turn the momentum in their favor. Dan Dwyer (Hamden, Conn.) nearly pulled the Falcons level with a lofted ball that rang the crossbar and was cleared out of the offensive zone. After Colmenares saved an Austin Tomin (Hamden, Conn.) effort in the 85^th minute the home side was able to kill off the remaining time to earn their ninth straight victory.

The Falcons have a pair of home matches remaining on the schedule, hosting Newbury on October 18^th, before finishing up their regular season with Emmanuel College in Saturday October 20^th. Lasell will close their season with three straight road fixtures, at Suffolk on October 17^th, at St. Joseph's (Me.) on October 20^th before a non-league trip to Westfield State on October 24^th.