Men's Soccer Edged by No. 3 Southern New Hampshire, 2-1
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack men's soccer team battled third-ranked Southern New Hampshire to a 1-1 draw after 45 minutes of action, but the undefeated Penmen found the back of the net in the 80th minute to break the tie, handing the Warriors a heartbreaking 2-1 setback on Tuesday night at Martone-Mejail Field.
Merrimack falls to 2-2-1 on the season with an 0-2 mark in Northeast-10 Conference action, while the Penmen improve to a perfect 4-0 with a 1-0 record in league play.
After both teams exchanged goals within the span of a minute early in the first half, the remainder of the stanza did not see many scoring chances, sending both sides into the break even at a goal apiece.
SNHU would dominate the second half in the shot attempt department, out-shooting the home side by an 8-1 margin. Still, the Warriors withstood several scoring chances, as the defense and sophomore goalkeeper Jose Silva (Northborough, Mass.) propelled the potent offense of the Penmen.
But with just more than 10 minutes to play, and with the game becoming increasingly more physical as regulation drew to a close, Southern New Hampshire was awarded a free kick from about 35 yards out on the left-wing side. Keegan Campbell served the ball into the box, where Chris Tsonis flicked it past Silva for the game-winner.
The Warriors fought back until the final whistle but were unable to net the equalizer, falling to the Penmen for the first time since the 2009 season.
"It's obviously an extremely disappointing loss for us given how well I think we played," head coach Tony Martone said afterward. "We knew what we were going up against and we threw everything we had at them. I think we deserved a better fate, but we'll just have to learn from it and move on."
The visitors got on the board in the 19th minute, as Mohamed Toufik netted his second goal of the season after launching a shot from about 25 yards out that beat Silva in the lower-left corner of the net.
But 1:06 later, freshman back Julio Leon (Caracas, Venezuela) headed home his first collegiate tally on a corner kick feed from senior Franklin Lemus Pena (Revere, Mass.), evening the contest at 1-1 in the 20th minute.
That score would hold all the way until halftime and then through the ensuing 34:14 of the second half until SNHU put the game away with Tsonis' strike.
In total, the Penmen out-shot the Warriors by a 13-3 margin, while Silva finished the night with three saves and benefitted from one team save. Southern New Hampshire held a 3-1 edge in corner kicks, as well, while both teams combined for 35 fouls.
Next up, the Warriors host NE-10 foe New Haven on Saturday, Sept. 15, with first whistle set for 6 p.m.
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