GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - Faced with a 2-0 deficit and less than 30 minutes to play, the Marist men's soccer rattled off three unanswered goals to earn the 3-2 victory on the road at Adelphi on Saturday. Senior Stephan Brossard (Port Washington, N.Y.) led the comeback with the initial goal in the 64th minute and the eventual game-winner in the 85th. Freshman Simon Laugsand (Sortland, Norway) scored the second goal for the Red Foxes as he beat the Adelphi goalkeeper in the 65th minute.
In their final regular season non-conference game, the Red Foxes ran into a feisty Adelphi squad that was willing to go shot-for-shot in the first half of action. After starting the opening period with two shots and five corner kicks in the first 12 minutes, Marist's defense led by junior Anthony Sokalski (London, Ontario) was pressed into duty by the host Panthers with two quick shots towards goal, the first, which required a save.
The play went back and forth over the next 20 minutes before Adelphi got on the scoreboard with a converted penalty kick at 36:09.
At the half, Adelphi had a 7-4 advantage in shots and a 3-1 lead in shots on goal. Marist recorded six corner kicks versus one for the Panthers.
After a Chris Joseph goal put the Red Foxes down 2-0, 23 seconds into the second half, Marist picked up the offensive pressure. Over the next 15 minutes, the team would record three corner kicks to set up dangerous scoring opportunities. Eventually, the Red Foxes' persistence paid off as Brossard netted the team's first goal at 63:11 after picking up his blocked shot and juking a defender.
64 seconds later at 64:15, Laugsand scored his second goal of the year. After having his initial penalty kick saved by Adelphi's goalkeeper Ahmad Salamah, the freshman regrouped, took the rebound and slotted the ball low and to the right of Salamah.
The hosts nearly made it three goals and three minutes as Jordan Hibbert tested Sokalski at 64:57.
With the game tied at 2-2, each team would look for the decisive third goal as both Marist and Adelphi would register three shots in the next 19 minutes.
Finally at 84:08, Brossard would break the tie with his fifth goal of the year. The senior whipped in a shot from the right side of the box after receiving a pass in by classmate Josh Faga (Rochester, N.Y.).
The Red Foxes held on over the final 5:52 to even their 2012 record up at 4-4-1.
For the game, Adelphi outshot Marist 16-15 and registered more shots on goal at 7-6. In goal, Sokalski finished the contest with five saves.
"After spotting them two goals we decided to turn it on in the second half" said head coach Matt Viggiano postgame. "The sign of a good team is to get road wins and with today's outcome we're 4-1-1 away from Poughkeepsie. We're happy with the win, but we have a lot of work to do before getting into MAAC play. Moving forward, it'll be key that we continue to learn from both our wins and losses."
The Red Foxes will next be in action on Friday, October 5 when they kick off conference play versus MAAC opponent Manhattan in a 7 p.m. matchup.
