Posted: Oct 07, 2014
Three first half goals powered the Johnson State College men's soccer team to a 4-2 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory over Green Mountain College on Tuesday afternoon at Eagles Game Field. With the win, the Badgers improve to 4-6-1 overall and 2-3-0 in NAC play. The loss drops the Eagles to 3-8-0 overall with a 0-4-0 mark in conference action.
Johnson opened up the scoring in the contest with a beautiful goal by Cory Chase in the 6th minute of play. The senior forward settled a loose ball just beyond 25 yards out and lined a perfect strike into the upper left corner of the goal for his fifth goal of the year.
The visitors got a gift in the 24th minute as they extended the lead to 2-0 on an own goal by the Eagles.
The Badgers continued to press as the first half wound down to a close as Keegan Hanlon hammered home his third goal of the year on an unassisted marker to give JSC a comfortable 3-0 lead heading into the break.
GMC finally got on the board in the in the 51st minute of play when the Badgers were whistled for a foul about 20 yards away from goal. Eagles' midfielder Mike Ellis took the ensuing direct kick and bent a strike around the wall for his first goal of the year.
The Eagles struck again in the 81st minute of play on a similar play as Ryan Crozier lasered a direct kick again from about 20 yards out that slipped through the hands of Badgers' keeper Alex Pakatar.
With the Eagles pressing for the equalizer, the team got caught in transition as JSC's Dominic Caforia sent in teammate Sean Springer on a break and the freshman forward made no mistake depositing his fifth marker of the year into the back of the net to close out the scoring.
Johnson outshot Green Mountain 26-19 and also held the edge in corner kicks with a 5-3 margin.
Pakatar made five saves in net for the Badgers to improve his record to 4-5-1 overall, while Griffin Shelor made a valiant 11 saves in defeat.
Green Mountain will next travel to Lyndon State College on Saturday for a conference match scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Johnson will also be in action on Saturday as the Badgers take on NAC opponent Castleton State College at 3:30 p.m.
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