Albertus Defeats Westfield St. 3-1

by Kristen DeCarli

September 2, 2012

After going into the half-time break trailing 1-0, the Albertus Magnus men’s soccer team scored three consecutive goals to register its first come-from-behind victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Westfield State on Sunday.

The Owls (0-1-0) took an early lead with their first goal of 2012 in the 21^st minute as Jared Spicer took a shot from 18-yards out which was just out of the reach of Falcon goalkeeper Donato Piroscafo (Naugatuck, Conn.).

Despite not scoring in the first half, the Falcons outshot the Owls 10-6 in the frame.

The Falcons came out in the second half and controlled the tempo early as Nick Hamasian (Hamden, Conn.) tied the score in the 47^th minute as he was in the right place at the right time and drilled a shot into the back of the net off of a rebound from an initial shot by Chris Long (West Haven, Conn.). For Hamasian, it was his seventh career goal.

Albertus took its first lead of the afternoon just over a minute later as sophomore Richard Mitchell (Naugatuck, Conn.) netted his second goal of the season as he finished on a cross into the box from Lindsley Barrett (Shelton, Conn.).

The Falcons added an insurance goal in the 81^st minute thanks to freshman Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.), who drilled a shot from 15 yards out, which was too much to handle for the Owls’ keeper Keith Hevey. For Zapata, it was his first collegiate goal.

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 2-0-0 on the year. Piroscafo finished the afternoon with five saves in 90 minutes of work. Hevey tallied nine saves for the Owls but allowed three goals in the second half of play.

The Falcons finished the afternoon with a 22-12 shots advantage, while Stephen Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) led Albertus with six shots.

Albertus will continue its home stand with a 4:00 p.m. meeting with Mt. St. Mary’s (N.Y.) on Thursday, Sept. 6.