No. 16 Men's Soccer Blanks Stonehill, 3-0
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The No. 16 Merrimack
men's soccer team tallied three first half goals to propel them to
a 3-0 victory over Stonehill. The Warriors extend their
winning-streak to six games as they improve to 6-0-0 on the season
and 2-0-0 against Northeast-10 teams. The Skyhawks sink to 3-2-1 on
the year and 1-2-1 in the conference.
In the opening minutes of the first half, Robbie Sabadoz
(Ottawa, Ontario) had Merrimack's first chance on goal.
Evan
Burokas (Auburn, Mass.) played a ball behind the
Stonehill defense for Sabadoz to run onto. The junior co-captain
settled the ball and shot it past the goalkeeper but the ball hit
the outside of the post and trickled out of bounds.
Senior Kevin Joyce
(Mansfield, Mass.) assured his presence in goal for
Merrimack in the early goings. Joyce came off his line to meet
Stonehill's Michael White on a fifty-fifty ball. White tried to
send the ball over Joyce's head but the senior netminder denied the
opportunity to keep the game at 0-0.
After 23 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Warriors broke through
as freshman Francis Mulkern
(Scituate, Mass.) netted his first collegiate goal.
Olof
Lindhe's (Stockholm, Sweden) cross from the right
flank was nabbed by the Skyhawks' netminder. When the goalkeeper
lost control of the ball, Mulkern was in the right place to bury
the ball in the back of the net.
The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes remaining
in the opening period. Lindhe latched on the end of a corner kick
from Burokas and headed it into the goal for his third goal of the
2010 season.
Joyce kept Stonehill off the board with another big save on
White in the first half. White sent a glancing header towards the
bottom corner but Joyce dove and got his fingertips on it to turn
it away.
Sabadoz added Merrimack's third goal of the first half with
seven minutes to play before intermission. The Warriors earned a
corner kick on the left side of the field, enabling them to produce
a scoring opportunity. Burokas played a short corner to Sabadoz who
took the ball from the flank to the top of the penalty box. Sabadoz
sent a shot through the traffic in front of the net that caromed
off of a defender and into the goal.
The two squads battled it out in the second but neither side
could notch a goal. Merrimack held a slight edge in shots,
14-12.
Joyce finished the game with five saves to his credit for
Merrimack, earning his third clean sheet of the year. Brandon
McFarlane matched Joyce with a five-save performance of his
own.
The Warriors will face their first top 25 opponent of the season
as they travel to Rindge, N.H. to take on No. 25 Franklin
Pierce.
Francis Mulkern on his first collegiate goal.
Head Coach Tony Martone comments on the team's 3-0 win over
Stonehill.
