Mountaineers Dominate Mustangs And Extend Winning Streak In 4-0 Victory
Photo Courtesy: Matt Haggerty
MORRISVILLE, N.Y. - The Southern Vermont College men's soccer team extended it's winning streak to seven games as the young squad dominated Morrisville State College 4-0 in non-conference play Tuesday night. Nick Haggerty netted two goals for the Mountaineers while Tony Martinez and newcomer Adrien Alexis each contributed a goal in the victory.
"I think there's a certain amount of pressure after winning seven in a row," said Head Coach Tim Penrod. "However, we're taking games one at a time. We aren't going to overlook any teams going forward. The players are really starting to understand the importance of playing a full 90 minutes. If we continue doing that, we will do very well the second half of the season."
With the win Southern Vermont improves to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the NECC.
"It's a unique position to be in. Looking back on the history of this program, we've surpassed a lot of expectations," said Coach Penrod. "However, we haven't surpassed the expectations we have of ourselves, which is why every day you will see this group of players working hard to get better. It's nice to have a winning record, but it's important for us to stay focused. We still have a number of conference games to play, and we need to continue winning if we want to make the post-season."
SVC's first goal of the game was scored in the 29th minute of play by Nick Haggerty with an assist from Tony Martinez, his third of the year.
"We came out ready to play, but for the first 20 minutes or so we really didn't work very hard in the finishing third of the field," said Coach Penrod. "Once we started doing that, we really came alive and were able to dominate play."
Only after ten short minutes of play, the Mountaineers netted another, this time an unassisted goal from Adrien Alexis. SVC went into the half with a 2-0 lead over the Mustangs (3-5-1).
Nine minutes into the second half, the Mountaineers slipped another past Morrisville's keeper Greg Igglesden, an unassisted goal to the lower left corner from Martinez, making the score 3-0.
"We made a few small adjustments at halftime to free up some of our guys like Tony who weren't getting to see much of the ball," said Coach Penrod. "Again, we stayed patient and were able to be successful."
With time left in the second half, the Mustangs had a total of 17 attempts to score, six of those shots on Southern Vermont's keeper Elias Skiff.
In the 54th minute of play, Haggerty netted his second of the day (tenth of the year) for the Mountaineers, this time with an assist from Ben Naaktgeboren to seal the win for SVC.
"Nick is playing as well right now as I have ever seen him," said Coach Penrod. "His work rate is tremendous, and his will to win is unmatched. His teammates are doing a good job of putting him in a position to score goals, and he's doing his part by taking advantage of those opportunities."
Aside from the recent climb in goals during the seven game winning streak, the Mountaineers have also not allowed many goals as the defense has only gotten better as the season goes on.
"Defensively we are playing much smarter than in the past," said Coach Penrod. "Noah [Massucci], Greg [Gilmore], and Chris [Hanson] do a very good job keeping things tight in the back, and that makes life a lot easier on Elias [Skiff] and Aaron [Eschler]."
SVC is looking forward to Saturday as it hosts Conference foe Lesley University (7-2-1 overall, 1-0 NECC) at 3:00 p.m.
