Men's Soccer Flies Past Stevenson Mustangs For First "W" of Season

Owings Mills, Md. – After being tied at the end of the first half, the St. Joseph's Golden Eagles men's soccer team (1-1) rallied late to defeat the Stevenson Mustangs (1-1), 3-2. With just 10 minutes left in the second half, the Golden Eagle's Andrew Stasiewicz (Mount Sinai N.Y. / Mount Sinai) netted the game-winning goal off of his first shot of the season to defeat the Mustangs at Mustang Stadium. 

The Golden Eagles started the game off hot by putting the first points on the board during the first minute of play. The goal came after Golden Eagle defender Brian O'Sullivan (Manorville, N.Y. / East Port-South Manor) deflected his teammate Enrique Tirado's (Smithtown, N.Y. /St. Anthony's) shot in the net after the first corner kick of the game.

Stevenson responded quickly by scoring back-to-back goals from their freshman Thomas Taylor in the 7^th minute and senior Jon Grant in the 30^th minute.

The Golden Eagles were outshot by the Mustangs in the first half 10-5, but still managed to score an equalizer before halftime.  Eagles' freshman forward Chance Casey (Babylon, N.Y. / Babylon) beat the Mustang's keeper after a shot he blasted from 20 yards out in 35^th minute cleared the keeper's head. Casey's goal sent the game into halftime tied 2-2.  

Following the break, the Eagles and Mustangs went neck-and-neck to find the game winner. Eagles' keeper Avery Gomez (Bay Shore, N.Y. / Bay Shore) was impeccable in the second half, stopping all eight shots that came his way.

The final score came in the 77^th minute when the SJC's Chris Hall (Mastic, N.Y. /William Floyd) sent a perfect through ball to forward Andrew Stasiewicsz. The pass allowed Stasiewicsz to break past his defenders where he was able to beat the keeper with a shot that bounced off the far left post and into the back of the net.  

The Eagles' defense proved too strong for the Mustangs as they were able to hold off any late game-tying attempts.  The Golden Eagles improve to 1-1 after their victory against the Mustangs after dropping their season opener to McDaniel College.

St. Joseph's is on the road again as they travel to New Jersey to take on Kean University this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.