Men's Soccer Topped by NEC in Final Home Game of Regular Season

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The Mitchell College men's soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision against New England College on Wednesday afternoon in a physical New England Collegiate Conference showdown, which also happened to be the final home game of the Mariners regular season. 

Wiskens Flavil paced the Pilgrims with a pair of second half goals, including the eventual game deciding goal during the 85th minute of play. Tucker Stenger and Anthony Aguiar also scored for the visiting team, while Nolan Clack and Dylan Lucey both found the back of the net for Mitchell, keeping them in a tie for the team lead with six goals on the season. 

Battling slippery and foggy conditions, NEC wasted little time jumping ahead as William Scala delivered a corner kick into the goal area, setting up a header by Tucker Stenger just a minute and 12 seconds into the game. The Mitchell defense applied fierce pressure and kept the Pilgrims off the board for the remainder of the opening half, however the Mariners were unable to find pay dirt despite outshooting NEC 10-7 heading into the intermission. 

The Mariners knotted the score up at 1-1 four minutes into the second half when Nick Ghirardi booted the ball the length of the field, connecting with Clack at the top left corner of the penalty box. The senior gained possession, made a defender miss, and sailed home a shot which skimmed off the approaching goalkeepers hand, bouncing into the bottom right corner of the net. 

The Pilgrims eventually regained the lead when a handball set up a penalty kick, which was put past the Mitchell goalkeeper into the left corner by Wiskens Flavil in the 65th minute. Flavil then scored again 18 minutes later, unassisted, when he stole the ball from a Mitchell defender and launched a deep, arching, kick from 10 yards outside the penalty box.

One minute later, Anthony Aguiar crossed from left to right at the top of the box, created a window between a pair of Mariner defenders and made it a 4-1 game. A header by Mitchell sophomore Dylan Lucey in the final minute off a feed from freshman Flavio Alvarado trimmed the deficit to two, but it was too late, as the Mariners dropped to 1-4 in conference play. 

The Mariners were credited with 22 shots, 11 on goal, and had five corner kick opportunities. The Pilgrims finished with 15 shots, six on goal, and had seven corner kick opportunities. Clack led Mitchell with 10 shots, six on goal, while Lucey added five shots, four of those on goal.

Senior goalkeeper Joey Rosa made a pair of saves for the home team and Hayden Walker made nine saves for the visitors. 

Mitchell (5-10-0 overall, 1-4 NECC) will close out their regular season with a conference matchup against Lesley on Saturday, October 29th at 2:00 pm. New England College (8-7-1 overall, 4-1 NECC) wrap up their regular season at home on Saturday, hosting Eastern Nazarene at 1:00 pm.