POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Looking to put Friday's disappointing MAAC opening result behind them, the Marist men's soccer team came out with a fury on Sunday afternoon and recorded a 3-1 victory over Saint Peter's. Staking themselves out to a 2-0 first half lead, the Red Foxes withstood a stubborn and physical Saint Peter's offensive attack in the second half to hold on for the win.
Senior Stephan Brossard (Port Washington, N.Y.) led the Red Foxes with a goal and an assist. Junior Evan Southworth (Newburgh, N.Y.) and sophomore Nick Bramall (Newburgh, N.Y.) also netted scores for Marist. Junior goalkeeper Anthony Sokalski (London, Ontario) back-stopped the Red Foxes to victory with seven saves.
Coming into Sunday with just three total goals scored in five home games, the Red Foxes knew that scoring first and early would be of the utmost importance versus the Peacocks. Junior Greg Davis (Jamaica, N.Y.) led the early scoring charges as twice in the first 11 minutes he had strong looks on goal; the first after receiving the ball from an intricate series of passes from Wes Finch (Newburgh, N.Y.) and Stephan Brossard (Port Washington, N.Y.) and the second off of a Brossard free kick.
Finally, at 31:46, Marist broke through as Southworth took a Brossard corner kick from deep in the six-yard box and headed it past Saint Peter's keeper Diego Mendoza.
Less than 12 minutes later, the Red Foxes would go up two goals when Brossard scored a goal, that was based purely off of heart and hustle as he chased down a Dylan Lee (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) through ball that seemingly was going to bounce into Mendoza hands atop the 18-yard box. Instead of backing off and letting the Peacock keeper grab it, Brossard snuck in behind his defender and headed the ball away and over Mendoza.
At the half, Marist had a 12-4 lead in shots and a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal.
In the second half, Saint Peter's picked up the intensity on the offensive end as the Peacocks registered three shots on goal in the first nine minutes of the period. After one shot rang off the far post over Marist's defense, Anthony Sokalski came through with two clutch saves, including one from six yards out by Jacob Robertson that he denied with a sliding kick save at 54:10. Less than two minutes, Robertson got the better of the Marist keeper with a one-timer shot at 55:55 off of a Noah Sadaoui pass.
From that point on through the end of the game, Sokalski got locked back in and led the Red Fox defense as they kept Saint Peter's at one goal on the scoreboard. The junior goalkeeper would add three more saves in the half.
Nick Bramall, a sophomore forward, who came off of the bench and gave Marist an outstanding and hard-fought 48 minutes of play was rewarded with his first-career goal in the 86th minute as he found space in front of the net and took a Finch pass from the right corner before depositing the ball in the goal. Following this tally the score would go final at 3-1 in favor of the hosts.
For the game, Marist finished with an 18-15 advantage in shots; both teams were tied with eight shots on goal. Sokalski finished with seven saves.
With the win, the Red Foxes improve to 5-5-1 overall and 1-1 in the MAAC.
Post-game head coach Matt Viggiano remarked that "we earned a much deserved result. It was a hard-fought and feisty game that is typical of any MAAC contest. After a strong first half, we persevered and hung on in the second half."
The Red Foxes will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 12 when travel to Baltimore, Md. for a matchup versus conference-foe Loyola. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
