POULTNEY, Vt. – The Green Mountain College men's soccer team got a late second half goal from junior Dylan Rainbolt (Auroro, Colorado) to earn its first victory of the year as it had to work hard to slide past Southern Vermont College 3-2 in non-conference play on Sunday afternoon at Eagles Game Field.
Rainbolt received a forward ball on the left side in the final third for the Eagles and manufactured some space to send a cross into the six-yard box. Southern Vermont's keeper Cody Gross (Fair Lawn, New Jersey) did a good job to fend off several Eagle players looking for the header, but the ball became dislodged as he fell backwards toward the goal line causing it to just trickle over the end line.
Green Mountain (1-2-0) was the early aggressor and was rewarded with a few opportunities. The Eagles got on the scoreboard just before the 10th minute on a nice passing play. Freshman midfielder Nazar Zhukovskyy (Stamford, Connecticut) fed a streaking Mike Ellis (Deonsboro, New York) who quickly fired a pass to clear out space for freshman striker Jordan Manikas (Springfield, New York) near the right corner of the six-yard box. Manikas made no mistake striking his second goal of the year past a diving Gross.
The Eagles continued to push the tempo and scored off of a set piece just outside the 18-yard box. Zhukovskyy feigned an attempt on a direct kick which opened a lane for sophomore defender Ryan Crozier (Olmsted Township, Ohio) who smartly struck the ball low and hard, beating the Mountaineer keeper to his left. The Eagles would use the goal to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
Southern Vermont (0-3-0) used the break at half to regroup and came out for the second stanza revitalized and with a sense of urgency. Senior defender Sean Wright (Blairstown, New Jersey) scored the Mountaineers' first goal of the year when he headed a corner kick from sophomore forward Marc Massena (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) through some heavy traffic into the Eagles' net. Wright's first goal on the year narrowed the score to 2-1.
The Mountaineers' consistent pressure paid off in the 73rd minute as they knotted the score at 2-2. Junior Daveon Lamar Logan (Los Angeles, California) made good on the hard work done by junior Sean Deegan (Seymour, Connecticut) down the right side, evading several defenders, to pot his first goal in an SVC jersey.
The Eagles wasted little time resurrecting the lead, however, as Rainbolt's cross into the net came just over a minute and a half after the equalizer.
As the final score indicated, the game was tightly contested as both teams registered eight shots on net while GMC held the slight advantage with 10 corners to SVC's nine.
GMC's freshman keeper Griffin Shelor (Cedar Park, Texas) earned his first collegiate victory (1-2-0) in net for the Eagles by stopping six shots. Gross (0-3-0) made five saves in defeat for the Mountaineers.
Southern Vermont is back at it Wednesday night when it hits the road to face Bard College for a first touch at 7 p.m. Green Mountain will also be in action Wednesday as the Eagles host Fisher College in their next contest with game time scheduled for 4 p.m.