Mitchell College Sports Roundup

A last-minute goal in double overtime pushed the Mitchell College women's soccer team past Regis College on Saturday, while the men's team also defeated Regis in an overtime 1-0 victory. The men's cross country team also won the Tri-State Invitational. The following information was provided by Christopher Barroso, sports information director at Regis College, and David Longolucco, sports information director at Mitchell College:

Women's Soccer: Mitchell 2, Regis 1

The Mitchell College Mariners’ Maariyah Lombardo (Middletown, Conn.) scored with sixteen seconds left in double overtime to propel the team past Regis 2-1. The win moves the Mariners to 4-2 overall on the season and 2-0 in the NECC. The Pride moves to 6-3 overall on the season and 2-1 in NECC play.

The Pride got on the board first in the 34th minute when Michelle Sirois (Easton, Mass.) fed a top box pass to Adena Joseph (Stoughton, Mass.) to make the score 1-0 in favor of Regis.

The Mariners would power back in the 19th minute with a barrage of shots on Pride goalkeeper Michaela Yebba (Wakefield, Mass.). Yebba sprawled out to make a point blank save on Madeline Crow (Rockville, M.d.) who cranked a hard shot towards the lower right post. Crow would rebound the save and rifle a second shot to find the back of the net and even the score at 1-1. Both teams would try to convert in the final minutes of the first half but neither team could turn a solid shot on goal.

The second half would open with a long stretch of uneventful volleys between both squads with neither team finding the back of the net. The pride would have one last attempt in the final minute of play when Kristen Abreu (Woburn, Mass.) lobbed a strong kick wide of the Mariner goal, this final attack of the period ended regulation with the score tied at 1-1.

The Pride would rally in the second overtime period when Abreu cut through the Mariner backfield to go one on one with goalkeeper Kaylee Woodford (Niantic, Conn.). Woodford stonewalled the shot to keep the score at 1-1. The Mariners would continue to hustle in the final two minutes of play making a successful attack with 16 seconds left in the contest. Maariyah Lombardo cranked a hefty shot off the rebound from Yebba’s save to score the game winner and put the Mariners up 2-1.

The Crimson and Gold return to action Tuesday night when they travel to Leicester, Massachusetts to the campus of Becker College to take on the Hawks at 6:00 p.m. The Mariners next matchup is Tuesday when they travel to take on the Elms College Blazers at 7:00 p.m.

Men's College: Mitchell 1, Regis 0

Mitchell College’s Frank Williams (Westerly, R.I.) scored on a pass from James Gleason (Old Lyme, Conn.) nearly four minutes into overtime to propel the Mariners past Regis College, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon in NECC men’s soccer action. The Pride drops to 5-7 overall and 1-3 in the NECC while Mitchell improves to 3-4-1 and 1-1 in conference play.

Both teams jockeyed for field position throughout the first half. The Pride had its first opportunity of the day when Ricardo Arguetta (Los Angeles, Calif.) lofted a corner kick into the box that Josh Fidalgo (Dorchester, Mass.) was able to get his head on, but the shot sailed wide, leaving the score knotted at 0-0. Later in the half, Angel Aguilar (Silver Spring, Md.) had a breakaway attempt on Mitchell’s Kevin Woodford (Niantic, Conn.) that Woodford was able to get a piece of and deflect away. The ball bounced over to Chris Millington (Huntington, N.Y.) but the sophomore forward could not put the goal away as his attempt missed right.

Regis held a 13-3 edge in shots in the first half while also taking four corner kicks compared to Mitchell’s two. Woodford turned away both shots he faced in the period while Andrew LaMacchia (Lynn, Mass.) went unchallenged.

The second half was similar to the first as neither team could muster much offense. Mitchell outshot the Pride 7-3 but none of their shots found their mark. LaMacchia made a pair of saves in the period to keep the score tied at 0-0 headed into the extra frame. Mitchell wasted no time in OT as James Gleason forced a turnover at the top of the box and when he turned to face the net, found a streaking Frank Williams, who blasted the ball to the opposite lower corner to help the Mariners grab their first conference win of the season.

The Pride outshot the Mariners 17-12 in the game while each team attempted six corner kicks. The game was sloppy at times as the teams combined for 17 offsides and 29 fouls, including eight cards. Kevin Woodford made a pair of saves in the win while improving to 3-4-1 this year. Andrew LaMacchia allowed the one goal and made three saves in the setback.

Regis returns to action on Tuesday night when the Pride travels to Becker College for an 8:00 p.m. conference match. Mitchell steps out conference play on Wednesday night when they travel to Connecticut College for a 3:30 p.m. game.

Men's Cross Country

The Mitchell College men’s cross country team finished first overall at the 2011 Tri-State Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Lincoln campus.

The Mariners placed four runners among the top 10 individual finishers and recorded a team total of 49 points. The margin was enough to hold off runners-up Worcester State University and CCRI (54 points each), along with Clark University (68) and Anna Maria College (124).

Freshman Sherif Ali (Cliffside Park, N.J./Cliffside Park) continued his streak of leading the Mariners and finished second overall in the field of 46 runners. His time of 26:48 marked his fastest time of the season on an eight kilometer course.

With Ali setting the pace, the trio of freshman Jake Ustjanaskos (West Hartford, Conn./Eagle Hill), freshman Evan Garrity (Washington, Conn./Shepaug Valley) and sophomore Drew Castagna (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) scored big points for the Mariners. All three clocked in with season-best times as Ustjanaskos finished in seventh (27:47), Garrity in eighth (28:05) and Castagna in ninth (28:13). Sophomore Zach Hoch (Fishers Island, N.Y./Fishers Island School) completed the scoring with a 23rd place finish in a time of 32:07.

Mitchell will next compete at the James Earley Invitational on Saturday, October 8 in Westfield, MA. The race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.