Saint Michael's stops Greyhounds (3-2) in men's soccer; NE-10 playoff berth to be determined Tuesday

October 25, 2008

Saint Michael's 3, Assumption 2

COLCHESTER, Vt. --- Saint Michael's College bolted to a three-goal lead and held on for a 3-2 Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer win over Assumption College here SATURDAY.

The loss kept the Northeast-10 Conference postseason playoff situation in doubt for the Greyhounds.

Southern New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce, LeMoyne, Massachusetts Lowell, Merrimack and Southern Connecticut have already qualified for the tournament although seedings are not finalized. Assumption (4-4-4, 16 points), Saint Michael's (4-5-3, 15 points), Bentley (4-6-2, 14 points) and Saint Anselm (4-6-2, 14 points) are in contention for the seventh and eighth spots.

The schedule-maker must have known something as on Tuesday, Saint Michael's is at Bentley at 3 p.m. and Saint Anselm is at Assumption, 3:30 p.m.

IF the Greyhounds win (3 points) they would finish as the seventh seed with 19 points;

IF the Greyhounds tie (1 point), they would have 17 points. If Saint Michael's wins they would have 18 points and finish seventh and the Greyhounds eighth; if Bentley wins they would have 17 points however lost to the Greyhounds (1-0), therefore Assumption would finish seventh and Bentley eighth;

IF the Greyhounds lose (0 points), they would have 16 points and Saint Anselm would have 17 points. If Bentley wins they would have 17 points and would be the seventh seed and Saint Anselm eighth. Bentley defeated Saint Anselm 2-1 earlier in the season. If Saint Michael's and Bentley tie they would finish with 16 and 15 points respectively. Saint Michael's owns the tiebreaker with the Greyhounds by virtue of this 3-2 win.

Sophomore midfielder RYAN HORAN (Wheeling, WV/Wheeling Park) opened the scoring with his third goal of the season at 2:02 of the first half. Sophomore defender RYAN BECK (Salt Lake City, UT/Juan Diego Catholic) assisted.

Senior forward YOSHIKAZU ISHII (Tokyo, Japan/Gakushuin) made it 2-0 with his second goal of the season from Beck at 39:14. Senior midfielder SCOTT HINMAN (New Hartford, CT/Northwest Regional) made it 3-0 with his first goal of the season at 44:45.

The Greyhounds got on the board as the second half started as sophomore forward JEFFREY SWAN (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) scored his first goal of the season on an assist from sophomore forward STEPHEN BLAISDELL (Peabody, MA/Bishop Guertin) at 47:42. Hounds' sophomore midfielder PATRICK LINDBERG (Holliston, MA/Holliston) brought his team to within a goal at 50:04 with his second goal of the season with Blaisdell netting his second assist of the game.

Junior goalkeeper JASON BURNETT (South Burlington, VT/IMG Academy) made two saves for the Purple Knights, while sophomore BRENDAN MC CANN (Pepperell, MA/North Middlesex) had three saves for the Greyhounds in his first start.

The Greyhounds outshot the Knights, 11-8, however Saint Michael's held a 5-3 advantage in cornerkicks.

CLICK HERE for Assumption-Saint Michael's box score