BUFFALO, New York – Marist Men's Soccer started the game with three consecutive goals in the first 46 minutes to power a 3-1 victory over Canisius in the first MAAC contest for the Red Foxes in two seasons on Wednesday evening at the Demske Sports Complex.
Marist earns its first MAAC win and improves to 4-4-1 overall. The Golden Griffins drop to 0-1 in MAAC play and 0-6-2 in 2021.
After neither side had chances in the first 15 minutes, junior forward
Stefan Copetti broke the ice in the 16th minute with his third goal of the season. Graduate captain
Huib Achterkamp found the back of the net in the 33rd minute to stake the visitors to a 2-0 lead. Just 44 seconds out of halftime, graduate forward
Kyle Galloway scored for a 3-0 edge. Canisius prevented the shutout in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Galloway had a hand in all three goals with the tally and two assists. Juniors
Antek Sienkiel and
Liam Salmon added assists off the bench. Senior goalkeeper
Samuel Ilin made one save for his third win of the year, as the Red Fox defense surrendered just two shots on goal.
Lachlan Beever scored Canisius' lone goal and had a game-high four shots. William Howard notched three saves between the pipes.
- Copetti 's goal came when Galloway stole the ball near midfield. His stretch pass met Copetti, who beat a Golden Griffin defender and Howard in the lower-right corner.
- In the 20th minute, freshman forward Richard Morel almost extended the lead to 2-0 with a 15-yard, dead-central shot, but Howard made the save. Galloway controlled the rebound and tried the shot near the left post, but Howard turned it aside.
- Galloway rocketed a scissor-kick strike into the far post in the 25th minute, but was waved offside to cancel the goal.
- Marist's second tally came off a corner kick. Galloway inserted the ball from the left corner to Sienkiel in front of him. The junior crossed the ball into the box, allowing Achterkamp to settle it in front of the right post and find twine.
- In the 40th minute, junior midfielder Henrique Cruz got open for a 20-yard blast that required a leaping save from Howard. Redshirt junior defender Demarre Montoute tried a header soon after, but it floated above the net.
- Just as the second half started, Salmon worked around a Canisius defender in the right corner, crossing the ball near the end line back to Galloway in the box. The graduate student bounced the ball in front to draw Howard out of the net and whipped the shot by the right post for the 3-0 advantage.
- Canisius' Alessio Atzori ripped a bullet from outside 20 yards in the 54th minute, but it went wide left.
- Sienkiel launched a free kick moments after a Canisius yellow card, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
- In the 67th minute, senior midfielder Jacob Schulman bent a 25-yarder from the right side that curled in by the far post, but it was narrowly high.
- Canisius finally posted its first shot on goal in the 71st minute. After a header from a free kick fluttered over Ilin's head, the Golden Griffins collected the goal kick. Beever placed one near the far post that Ilin crouched to his left to make the stop.
- Luke Szablewski attempted to flick a volley into the box by the right post, but it floated wide right in the 80th minute.
- Canisius broke the ice when Andrew Vannest redirected Matthew Spangler's cross to Beever from over 15 yards away. Beever turned around and tucked the shot into the lower-right corner.
- With less than three minutes left, graduate forward Justin Jaime tried to regain the three-goal advantage with a 20-yard blast, but his shot was blocked at the top of the box.
- Marist held the 17-9 edge in shots and 6-2 in shots on goal.
- All three of the Red Foxes' goals were in the lower-right corner, and all three came within 12 yards of the goal.
- Canisius' three saves all came within the first half.
- Corner kicks were even; each team had five.
- Possession favored the Golden Griffins 52 percent to 48 percent. However, the Red Foxes spent 59 percent of their time in Canisius' half.
- Each side sustained one yellow card.
- Ilin, Achterkamp, senior captain Justin Scharf, and freshman midfielder Andre Cutler-DeJesus all played the full 90 minutes. Eighteen Red Foxes saw time on the pitch.
- Copetti is on a five-game points streak, where all of his team-best nine points have come.
- He now shares the team lead in goals with Achterkamp; the duo have three each.
- Achterkamp's tally was his third non-penalty kick goal as a Red Fox, though all three of his scores this season have come from set pieces.
- Galloway is the first Red Fox to total at least four points in a game since teammate Skylar Conway registered seven points on November 6th, 2019, which also came against Canisius.
- Marist is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games at Canisius, and boosts its overall unbeaten streak over the Golden Griffins to three matches.
"I thought, for the most part, we played a smart road game, and I was pleased we came right out of the break and got the third (goal). The guys got the job done today and earned three points in conference away from home. We'll look to build on the result knowing we have the preseason MAAC favorites coming to town next. That should be a good one." – Head Coach Matt Viggiano
- Marist returns home to host Quinnipiac on Saturday, October 2nd at 7 p.m.
