Box Score RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- Another strong defensive effort sent the Fairfield University men's soccer team to a 1-0 win at Manhattan College on Wednesday night, sending the Stags into second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The result was the goalkeeper
Gordon Botterill's third straight shutout, extending his scoreless minutes streak to 317 minutes. As a team, Fairfield has yielded just one goal in the last five games which includes four clean sheets.
"A well-earned road win against a dangerous offensive team," Head Coach
Carl Rees said. "Diallo (Simon-Ponte) and Jon (Uy) negated threats in wide areas and once again
Gordon Botterill recorded a shutout."
The Stags scored the game's only goal in the first half off a restart in the 27th minute. Fairfield was awarded a throw in on the near side, placing the ball in the hands of
Joseph Meyer. The midfielder sent a well thrown ball into the box where
Marcus Nordgard took a diagonal run toward the near post. Meyer's throw fell perfectly to the feet of Nordgard who redirected the ball into the far corner.
In the second half, Fairfield stepped up its attack and managed to put together several scoring chances. Eirick Anderson nearly scored the team's second goal when he secured a ball inside the box and sent a shot past the charging goalkeeper, but the ball went just over the cross bar.
Steven Valente was close to putting the game out of reach when he was sprung off a long clearing pass. The senior beat his defender and sent a shot toward the upper corner but Manhattan goalkeeper Marcellin Gohier managed to punch the ball over the cross bar, keeping the game at 1-0.
The Stags managed six second-half shots while the defense kept Manhattan to just four attempts over the final 45 minutes of regulation. Botterill was able to keep Manhattan off the scoreboard by making three saves.
"I really delighted for this group, but our focus must now shift immediately to Monmouth on Lessing Field next week," Rees said.
The Fairfield-Monmouth game will be on Wednesday, October 25 beginning at 7 pm.
