Stephen Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) dished out three assists as the Albertus Magnus men's soccer team downed Mount Saint Mary College 4-1 at Kaplan Field on Saturday afternoon.
Zapata, who lifted Albertus in last season's 2-1 victory over the Knights, continued where he left off a year ago as he assisted on the Falcons' final three goals of the afternoon.
Today's victory is the first for the Falcons in 2011 as their record moves to 1-1 on the year. Mount Saint Mary evens out at 1-1 as well with the loss.
Freshman Jesse Plona (Trumbull, Conn.) scored his first collegiate goal less than two minutes into today's contest, giving the Falcons an early lead. Nick Woodhouse (Plainville, Conn.) tallied the assist to earn his first point of the year. The early Albertus advantage was cut short as Mount Saint Mary answered back in the third minute as Brandon Mincher tied the game at one.
At the 12:54 mark of the first half, senior Jamal Howard (West Haven, Conn.) scored the eventual game winner as he connected on a header off a corner by Zapata to give the Falcons a 2-1 advantage.
In the 22nd minute, James Lucchesi (Norwalk, Conn.) took a cross into the box from Zapata and tallied his first goal of the season.
Albertus scored three of its four goals in the first half and outshot the Knights 19-12 on the afternoon, including a 13-10 clip in the first 45 minutes. Ten of the Falcons' 19 shots were on goal.
Only eight shots were registered in the second half as Albertus scored its final goal in the 75th minute of play. Sophomore forward Dan Dwyer found the back of the net on a header after receiving a free kick by Zapata to stretch the Falcons' lead to three.
Donato Piroscafo (Naugatuck, Conn.) picked up his first win of the season as he allowed one goal and recorded five saves in 90 minutes of work. The Knights' Matt Darling allowed all four Falcon goals and picked up six saves.
The Falcons will return to action on Tuesday, September 7 as they travel to Westfield State to take on the Owls in a 4:00 p.m. non-conference match-up.
