Men's Soccer Nets Five Goals En Route to Third Straight Win
WILMINGTON, Del.- The Merrimack men's soccer
team rattled off its third-consecutive win to begin the 2010 season
3-0-0. The Warriors handed Wilmington a 5-3 loss, Wednesday
afternoon. The Wildcats sank to 0-4-0 on the year.
Sophomore Olof Lindhe
(Stockholm, Sweden) opened the scoring with his first goal
of the season. Lindhe headed home a free kick from Evan Burokas
(Auburn, Mass.). Burokas continued his giving ways,
finding Robbie Sabadoz
(Ottawa, Ontario) with a through ball behind the Wildcat
defense a minute later. Sabadoz slotted the ball into the net to
give Merrimack the 2-0 advantage.
Wilmington answered with a goal of its own, less than a minute
after Sabadoz's tally. The Wildcats cut the lead to one as Nickalus
McDonald notched an unassisted goal. McDonald struck again in the
21st minute, registering his second goal of the game to knot the
score at 2-2.
In the 34th minute, Burokas buried a goal of his own to give the
Warriors the lead heading into intermission. Burokas received the
ball from Franklin Pena
(Revere, Mass.) who flicked on a long throw-in. Burokas
settled the ball and ripped a shot past the Wildcats
goalkeeper.
Merrimack went up 4-2, ten minutes into the second half as
Sabadoz scored his second goal of the game. Sabadoz's shot took a
slight deflection off of a defender on its way to the goal but
still managed to find the back of the net.
The Wildcats attempted to claw their way back into the game with
Manny Payton netting a goal at the 61st minute mark.
The Warriors shut the door and took back the momentum heading
into the final half hour of the game. Sabadoz carried the ball down
the left flank, turned a defender around, then crossed the ball
into the middle, finding Pena. Pena beat a defender on the dribble,
then went by the goalkeeper before placing the ball in the back of
the net for the fifth Merrimack goal of the game.
Kevin
Joyce (Mansfield, Mass.) recorded his third win of the
season, playing the full 90 minutes between the posts. Joyce made
one save on the day.
Wilmington outshot the Warriors 16-8 in the game and held the
edge in corner kicks, 8-2.
"Today's win was a huge victory for the team," said head coach
Tony Martone. "Wilmington was a talented team. They attacked with a
lot of guys which made them susceptible to the counterattack. Our
guys really went out and executed"
Merrimack returns to action, September 12, as it returns to
Warrior Field to take on C.W. Post in the final non-conference game
of the season. The Warriors open the Northeast-10 slate September
18 when they host St. Rose.
