Men's Soccer Victorious in Home Opener, 9-0 over Pine Manor

NEWTON, Mass. (9/7/14) – The Lasell College men's soccer team defeated Pine Manor College 9-0 in their home opener on Sunday afternoon. The Lasers improved to 1-2 on the season while Pine Manor dropped to 0-2 for the 2014 campaign.

Lasell junior Conor Fitzgerald (Marshfield, Mass.) recorded his first career hat-trick, sophomore Caique Reginaldo (Quincy, Mass.) added a goal and two assists, and junior Stephen Blood (Windsor, Conn.) scored the first two goals of his Lasell career while freshmen Newton Jordao (Hyannis, Mass.), Ryan Montemurro (Meriden, Conn.) and Nick Liquori (Westfield, Mass.) each scored in the contest. Junior Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) made a pair of saves to post his first clean sheet of the season in goal.

Pine Manor starting goalkeeper Oscar Estrada (North Port, Fla.) stopped eight shots in the first half, and substitute keeper Samuel Baugh (Abilene, Texas) made another eight saves in the second 45 minutes.

The Gators held Lasell in check for most of the first half, despite Lasell holding a 17-1 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes. Conor Fitzgerald opened the scoring on a through ball from Servi Barrientos (Providence, R.I.) that he slotted home in the 22^nd minute and Lasell added a second goal when a perfected weighted ball over the top of the Pine Manor back line sprung Reginaldo who finished the chance to make it 2-0 in the 26^th minute. Oscar Estrada kept Pine Manor in the game, making eight saves in the opening half, including stopping a pair of breakaways to send the match into the half with Lasell on top 2-0.

As the game opened up in the second half, Lasell took advantage of the extra space, and Fitzgerald scored two more goals, one in the 56^th minute and one in the 57^th minute. Both tallies were courtesy of rebounds from strikes by Barrientos that were saved by PMC goalkeeper Samuel Baugh that fell to Fitzgerald who knocked them in to make it 4-0.

A service from Reginaldo found Jordao unmarked for the Lasers fifth goal of the match, and a Lasers corner kick off the foot of Reginaldo found the head of Ryan Montemurro in the box which the senior back headed home to push the margin to 6-0 in the 70^th minute. An unassisted tally by Nick Liquori and two goals from Stephen Blood produced the final 9-0 score line.

Lasell will return to the pitch on Tuesday September 9^th when they host Brandeis University at 4:00 p.m. while Pine Manor will head to Southern Vermont College on Friday September 12^th at 4:00 p.m.