JOHNSON, Vt. – The Johnson State College men's soccer team fell to New England College 3-1 in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) game on Saturday afternoon at Minaert Field. 

SCORING

1^st Half: Rob Buonanna (Wolcott, Vt.) got Johnson (6-7, 1-4 NAC) on the board in the 10^th minute when he received the ball from the right wing from Dominic Caforia (Waterbury, Vt.), made a move around the defender and beat the keeper to his right for the 1-0 lead. The Pilgrims (5-5-2, 3-1-1 NAC) evened things up in the final minutes of the first when a free kick for was headed towards net by an NEC player and deflected in off a Johnson defender's foot for the own goal.   

2^nd Half: Cooper Valinski scored twice over a three-minute stretch late in the second half to give the pilgrims the 3-1 victory. The first goal, which came in the 79^th minute, came when Valinski received a through ball from Tucker Stenger and beat Ryan Willette (Wolfeboro, N.H.) coming out of his goal for the 2-1 lead. Three minutes later, Valinski collected a rebound off of Willette and buried the insurance goal to take the 3-1 lead.

STATS LEADERS

Goals: C. Valinski (NEC) – 1

Assists: Stenger (NEC) – 1

Shots on Goal: Skarbelis (NEC) – 6

STATS BREAKDOWN

Shots (On Goal): NEC – 23 (11), Johnson – 6 (4)

Corner Kicks: NEC – 10, Johnson – 2

Fouls: NEC – 16, Johnson – 15

GOALKEEPERS

Willette (0-1) was given the loss, stopping 8 of 11 shots on goal. Tenzin Khenrab (2-3-2) earned the win, allowing a goal on four shots.

NEXT UP

The Badgers will host Colby-Sawyer on Sunday, October 8^th in a NAC match at 3:30 p.m.