Lasers Rally for Comeback in GNAC Showdown with Falcons

NEWTON, MA— In a thrilling Great Northeast Athletic Conference men's soccer showdown between Lasell College and Albertus Magnus, the Lasers rallied back from a two-goal deficit late in the second period, to tie the contest, 2-2. The teams put on an exciting show for the near 300 fans that swarmed Grellier Field for Lasell's Family, Friends, and Alumni Weekend. After 110 minutes of soccer action, the match concluded in a stalemate, leaving the Lasers undefeated, and in first place, in the GNAC at 6-0-2 (6-6-2 overall) and the Falcons at 4-2-1 in the league (11-4-1 overall).  

The Falcons managed to take a 1-0 lead in the 13^th minute, getting lucky on a corner kick at the foot of Steven Zapata (Hamdem, CT). Zapata's corner cross was carried by the wind and bent into the top far corner of the Lasers' net past Lasell's goalkeeper Matthew Bruninghaus (Plymouth, MA), at 13:33.

Albertus Magnus furthered their advantage with 12 minutes remaining in the contest when Alphose Buccitti (West Haven, CT) beat out a Lasell defender in a battle to a long pass and crossed it to Jamal Howard (West Haven, CT) who was left alone on the top of the eighteen for a straight-on shot.

Despite the 2-0 deficit coming into the 80^th minute of the contest, the ever persistent Lasers remained on task and were rewarded for their efforts, scoring back-to-back goals to tie the game in a one minute and 11 second span.  Isaac Soares (Somerset, MA) struck first, notching a goal at 80:51 driving a shot by Falcon goalie Donato Piroscafo (Naugatuck, CT) from the left wing.  Dan Hatch (Avon, MA) evened the score at 82:02 using fancy footwork to get open from 25 yards out and putting the goal just out of reach of Piroscafo in the back of the net.

 Both teams had the opportunity to put the game away in the final eight minutes, but the thanks to the work of each team's goalkeeper, the match moved into overtime.

Each overtime session was predominantly owned by the Lasers, outshooting the visitors 9-5 in the extra frames, but neither team prevailed in the outcome.  

Though Lasell produced more shot opportunities overall in the contest (27-25), Albertus had more chances on target (13-11) leading to Bruninghaus collecting 11 saves in the event. Piroscafo denied eight shots in the match, and in addition got assistance from Rafael Guillen (Bakersfield, CA) who picked up a team save to prevent the Lasers' go-ahead goal late in the contest.

Lasell honored their four senior men's soccer players, Hatch, Stephen Petrin (Vernon, CT), Sean Fisher (Griswold, CT), and Joshua Martinez (Milton, MA) at the start of the contest in their annual senior day event. 

The Lasers will host Norwich University on Wednesday, October 20^th at 4:00 p.m. on Taylor Field in their next outing.