JOHNSON, Vt. – Saint Michael's College scored a pair of goals off corner kicks and outshot host Johnson State College 26-6 en route to their first win of the season while handing the Badgers their first loss by the score of 4-1 on Tuesday at Minaert Field in men's soccer play. The Purple Knights move to 1-1-1 overall, 0-0 Northeast-10 (NE-10) while Johnson slips to 2-1, 0-0 North Atlantic Conference (NAC).
Saint Michael's received scores from sophomores Anthony Stanley (La Ceiba, Honduras/St. Johnsbury Academy) and Omar Khartabil (Hampstead, N.H./Bridgton Academy) and from juniors Chris Eckels (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) and Ian Rowe (Waterville, Maine/Waterville) en route to the win while junior keeper Logan Kingman (New Bern, N.C./New Bern) made two saves in goal for the Knights. Ben Lessard (Allenstown, N.H./Trinity) and Lowe also recorded assists.
Johnson freshman Faisal Hilowle (Portland, Maine/Portland) scotched JSC's loan goal of the day while sophomore keepers Sam Martin (Essex, Vt./Essex) and Ryan Belen (Northvale, N.J./Northern Valley) each played a half with Martin stopping two shots and Belen making six saves.
SMC got on the board in the 21st minute when Stanley took a feed in the center-top of the penalty box, touched it out to his right and shot back to the left post for a goal and 1-0 lead where the score would remain until halftime.
Just :90 seconds into the second half Khartabil bent home a well-struck corner kick directly to the far post to give the Purple Knights a 2-0 lead.
The margin would swell to 3-0 six minutes later when Rowe, from the opposite corner as Khartabil's shot, floated a corner kick to the far post the found the head of Eckels who redirected to the top right corner for the score.
JSC would get on the board in the match's 77th minute when Hilowle maneuvered his way up the middle of the Saint Michael's defense, pushed the ball to an open area to his right and blasted a shot just under the cross bar making the tally 3-1.
Rowe would tack on one more for SMC when his penalty kick attempt was saved by Belen but the ball bounced back to Rowe's left and the midfielder quickly pounced on tucked inside the left post.
Johnson will move on to host Daniel Webster College on Saturday at 3:00 pm in non-conference action while Saint Michael's will next play at Lyndon State College on Thursday at 4:00 pm.