BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College fell 3-0 to The Sage Colleges Wednesday afternoon, being downed by the visiting Gators in non-conference men's soccer action at Everett Field.
Sage took a 1-0 lead through halftime into the 57th minute where the Gators got their first of two insurance goals, holding onto the shutout through the remainder of the match while adding another.
The Mountaineers (0-6) are next in action on Saturday when they host Daniel Webster College to start the New England Collegiate Conference schedule at 3:30 p.m. during SVC's Family Weekend. Sage (4-2-2) turns to a Friday Skyline Conference match, visiting SUNY Maritime for a 5 p.m. kickoff.
The majority of the opening period saw a back-and-forth battle with play being contained in the middle third of the field. The Gators held an advantage in quality chances at net, however SVC's defense and freshman keeper Noah Chani (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) were able to keep Sage off the scoreboard with some great saves and blocked shots. Finally, the visitors broke the scoreless tie and got on the board in the 39th minute. Sophomore Heriberto Gomez (Valatie, N.Y.) found freshman River Seybolt (Selden, N.Y.) in the left seem of the field, and the rookie was able to line up a perfect shot from the edge of the box; it went across the frame and into the back right netting, his fourth of the year giving the Gators the 1-0 edge.
Sage held its slim upper hand through the break before adding to it in the second half. 11:40 into the period, the Gator offense profited from a well-played through ball up the right side of the field. Freshman Liam Hayes (Rensselaer, N.Y.) sent it from about 10 yards into the SVC end of the field up to his top line where sophomore Kevin Saar (Binghamton, N.Y.) was able to take a touch at goal and setup his shot; the Gator placed it across the frame into the left side of the net, his first of the season putting Sage up by a 2-0 tally.
The Mountaineers nearly cut into the Gator lead in the 76th minute when the SVC offense got in behind the Sage backfield. Bennington College freshman Jonathan Nordh (Flekke, Norway) got his feet on a ball deep into the visitors' end and fired a shot from the middle of the box, about 15 yards away from net. But Sage senior keeper TJ Zehner (Beacon, N.Y.) came up with the point-blank, fully-extended deflection to maintain the shutout. His offense provided some extra separation with just under three minutes to go when a scramble in the box ended up with Gomez collecting the ball at the top of the area, and the Sage sophomore then knocked it directly into the lower right corner of the goal for his first of the season.
Zehner ended the match with a pair of saves while Chani turned away 10 Sage shots in the effort.