Newton, Mass. – A late rally fell short for the Albertus Magnus College men's soccer team in a 2-1 defeat versus Mount Ida on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action at Alumni Field. With the loss, the Falcons move to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play, while the host Mustangs improved to 8-3-1 on the year and 4-0-1 in league tilts.
Mount Ida got on the board early and often as senior captain Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) took the ball and dribbled straight down the middle of the field, eventually splitting the Falcon defense en route to his first goal of the contest slipping the ball past Albertus freshman keeper Joe Russo (North Haven, Conn.) for the early 1-0 lead.
A little over three minutes later sophomore Billy Zeba (Lexington Park, Md.) curved a ball toward the near post from about twenty yards out that clanked off the post and into the goal past a diving Russo giving the hosts the quick 2-0 advantage.
The Falcons first opportunity to get back into the game came at the 13:38 mark of the opening stanza as a penalty shot was awarded to the visitors. With Mustang keeper Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.) standing tall, Falcon junior midfielder Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) struck the ball to Ford's right hand side while Ford guessed right and made the highlight save to preserve the 2-0 Mount Ida lead.
After a back and forth battle that lasted through the remainder of the first half, Mount Ida would hold onto the 2-0 cushion into the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Falcons once again were awarded a petalty shot and Alexis Garcia-Romero (West Haven, Conn.) took to the PK spot and placed a ball once again to Ford's right who stood tall again and secured the two goal lead.
In the 66th minute the Falcons finally cut the Mount Ida lead in half when Justyn Broderick (Orange, Conn.) ripped a shot that was redirected and found the back of the net beating Ford.
The remaining of the half was a back and forth affair that saw the Falcons high pressure the Mustang defense, but the Mount Ida back line kept the Falcon attack at bay to secure the 2-1 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory.
In net, Russo turned aside three shots in a losing effort for Albertus Magnus. On the opposite end, Ford made six saves to earn his seventh victory of the autumn.
The hard-fought, physical contest saw 25 fouls whistled and six yellow cards handed out, three of which came in the final 15 minutes of regulation.
Albertus Magnus returns to action on Monday, October 12, with a home conference clash against Lasell at 3:15 pm.