Aug. 26, 2011
Final Stats
WEST POINT, N.Y. - In their season opener the Marist men's soccer won a game that head coach Matt Viggiano summed up best as "the wildest game I've ever been a part of." When the final clock went to zeroes the score was Marist 6 Army 4 in the highest scoring game for the Red Foxes since Sept. 28, 2001. In a game with three multi-goal runs, junior Stephan Brossard's hat trick and senior Krystian Witkowski's two late goals led the team to victory.
The scoring began early on as the Black Knights got on the board 2:54 into the game as Tanner Robertson put the ball into the back of the net off of a shot from 10 yards out.
Following 16 scoreless minutes, Marist would go on a four goal run highlighted by three-in-a-row by Brossard (Port Washington, N.Y.) in an eight minute span from 18:59 to 26:42 to take a 4-1 lead.
Brossard evened the score at 18:59 with a shot from within the six yard box off of a cross from freshman midfielder Dylan Lee (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.). Brossard tallied his second goal to help the team take the lead less than five minutes later at 23:55. Sophomore Gerry Ceja (Port Chester, N.Y.) assisted on his second goal as he took junior Josh Faga's (Rochester, N.Y.) throw-in and put the ball to Brossard's foot, who quickly rocketed a shot into the upper right-hand corner from 12 yards out. His first collegiate hat trick was completed in a total of six minutes and 22 seconds as goal number three came off a broken play that Army failed to clear at 25:21.
The fourth and final goal of Marist's streak came in the form of Ceja's first collegiate goal. With a corner kick opportunity, Brossard lined up and whipped a left footed cross into the box that found the head of a leaping Ceja.
Coming out of half up 4-1, the Red Foxes saw their lead disappear almost as quickly as they built it as the Black Knights responded with three goals in seven minutes and 34 seconds from the 52:50 to 60:24 mark in the second half. Jeff Pickett began the scoring as he converted a corner kick by Tommy Jaeger with a header to the back of the net. At 58:11 Elliott McGilbra handled a rebound and put the shot passed Marist's goalkeeper Steve Skonieczny (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) to make the score 4-3. Sean Mogan capped Army's comeback with a goal at 60:24 off of a shot from 15 yards out that found the upper right-hand corner.
Over the next 13 minutes, Marist withstood Army's newly found swing in momentum. Freshman Matt Wendelken (Massapequa, N.Y.) found Witkowski with a long, well placed throw-in, which was headed in to break through with the Red Foxes' first goal of the second half at 73:55. This goal would eventually hold as the game-winning goal.
Witkowski left little doubt as to the outcome as he controlled the ball 20 yards from Army's net and dribbled through multiple defenders before blasting a shot into the lower right corner of the goal to make the score 6-4 at 88:15.
For the game, Marist outshot Army 14-10, with eight shots on goal.
Four Red Foxes collected career firsts as Skonieczny collected his first victory as a Red Fox, while Ceja scored his first goal and Lee and Wendelken notched their first collegiate assists.
Marist's all-time record versus Army raises to 11-3-1 following today's contest.
The Red Foxes' next game will be on the road as they visit Northeastern of the Colonial Athletic Association in a Thursday evening contest in Boston, Mass.
