QUINCY, Mass. – The Eastern Nazarene men's soccer earned its first conference win of the season, defeating Wentworth Institute of Technology 3-1 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The win elevates the Lions to 3-12 on the year and 1-6 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Leopards fall to 2-13 overall and 2-5 in league matches with the decision.
The home side seized a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute as Will Campbell (Anchorage, Alaska) tallied his first goal of the year. After a throw-in restart by Jonathan Stiles (Duxbury, Mass.), Scott Hansen (Middletown Spring, Vt.) flicked the ball on to Campbell. The sophomore settled the ball before floating a shot over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Eastern Nazarene doubled its advantage to 2-0 in the 39th minute on Hansen's team-leading sixth marker of the season. Hansen muscled his way between a pair of Wentworth defenders inside the penalty area and fired a low shot past the sliding netminder.
The Lions headed into halftime owning a 2-0 lead after finishing the opening frame with a 9-8 edge in shots.
Eastern Nazarene tacked on its third score of the game in the 74th minute to push the margin to 3-0. After Hansen was hauled down inside the penalty area, resulting in a red card issued to Wentworth. Rookie Jacob Mason (Southport, England) stepped up to the spot and converted the resulting penalty kick for his fifth tally of the season.
The Leopards got on the board in the 88th to cut the deficit to 3-1. Sam Martins (Dartmouth, Mass.) sent a low pass into the center of the six-yard box and Devin Richard (Smithfield, R.I.) knocked in his second goal of the fall for Wentworth.
Both squads registered eight second-half shots as the Lions finished the match with 17 shots while the Leopards produced 16 on the evening. Wentworth earned six corner kicks in the game and Eastern Nazarene was awarded four.
Jake Johnson (Mount Bethel, Pa.) picked up his third victory of the season between the pipes for the hosts, stopping seven shots in 77:38 of action before giving way to Jameson MacFarland (Quincy, Mass.). MacFarland turned aside one shot as he worked the final 12:22 in goal for the Lions.
Chase Richard (Smithfield, R.I.) made four saves between the posts for the Leopards on the night.
Both teams hit the road on Saturday with Eastern Nazarene heading to Nichols and Wentworth traveling to Salve Regina.
(Portions of this recap courtesy of Eastern Nazarene sports information)
