NEW HAVEN, CONN.  - The Albertus Magnus College Falcons men's soccer team tied their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game against Norwich 2-2 at home on Saturday afternoon at Celentano Field.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Albertus Magnus 2 | Norwich 2
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (3-0-3, 2-0-2 GNAC) | Norwich (0-1-4, 0-0-3 GNAC)
BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

Albertus Magnus started off the first half by out-shooting Norwich 5-3, however with both defensive sides staying strong, the first 45 minutes ended in a 0-0 draw but not before EJ Gonzalez (Cheshire, Conn.) made a heartstopping save as Norwich's Cullen Swett headed the ball with goalkeeper David Lucero (East Haven, Conn.) out of the net. Gonzalez stretched his leg out just before the ball reached the goal line and knocked the ball out of play in the 34th minute.

Going into the second half, the Falcons offense picked up the pace taking five shots in the first ten minutes before Roger Baldwin (New Haven, Conn.) was able to drive the ball into the back of the net on a header off of a corner kick from Kelvin Cortez (Meriden, Conn.) and a deflection from Declan Ryan (Hamden, Conn.) at the 56:41 minute mark. 

After ten minutes of back and forth play, Norwich's Troy Galler fed the ball to Aidan Dwyer who shot it past Lucero, to even the game 1-1 in the 67th minute.

Then, with a foul called on Norwich, Albertus was awarded a penalty kick. Cortez stepped up to the ball to take the PK and buried it in the top right corner of the net just out of reach of Norwich goalkeeper, Nicolas Lanza, to put the Falcons up 2-1 at the 72nd minute.

The game continued its back and forth nature throughout the rest of the half until there were just over three minutes left. Norwich was able to get the ball into their offensive zone and Hunter Lortie fed Mason Reddington along the goal line Reddington then slid a pass to the center of the box to Kam Jorgenson who found the back of the net, tying the game 2-2 at the 87th minute.

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Albertus: David Lucero (T, 2-0-2):  4 Shots on Goal | 2 Goals-Against |  2 Saves
Norwich: Nicolas Lanza (T, 0-1-4):  5  Shots on Goal |  2 Goals-Against |  3 Saves


INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Albertus had 8 corner kicks while Norwich had 5.

• Albertus had 15 shots to Norwich's 12.

• The Falcons had three yellow cards presented to Ryan, Baldwin and Orantay Blake (Hamden, Conn.). 

NOTEWORTHY

• The goal from Cortez was his third of the season, and 18th of his career.
• Baldwin, a senior, scored his 1st goal of his career.
• It is the longest unbeaten start for Albertus since 2014 whtn the Falcons started the season 4-0-2.
• Albertus is now 9-16-5 all-time against Norwich.
• It's the seventh time in program history the men's soccer program has had at least three ties in a season. The team had four last season.

UP NEXT

The Falcons return to action on the road in a GNAC matchup against the AMCATS of Anna Maria on Tuesday, Sept. 19. Game time is set for 6 p.m.