BOSTON, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College men's soccer team registered its first New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) victory of the year Tuesday night, defeating Wheelock College 8-1 at the Winsor School to move back to .500 in league action.
Southern Vermont scored its first of the evening in the 16th minute, only to see the hosting Wildcats tie it up about three minutes later. The rest would be all Mountaineers, however, as SVC found the back of the net three more times in the first half before adding another four scores in the final 45 minutes to pull away for the win.
Mountaineer junior Paddy McGovern (Cheshire, England) had a monster game for Southern Vermont, notching six goals to now lead the rest of the league by five with 15 on the year. He tallied his second career hat-trick in the opening 40:46 of action, his first goal of the night being what proved to be his third game winner this season.
The Mountaineers improve to 4-6-2 overall on the year and 1-1-2 in NECC play with the win, tying the mark for the program's most wins since 2011. SVC is back on the road on Saturday to continue league play, heading to Regis College for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
The victory ends a two-game skid for Southern Vermont and is the first win for the Mountaineers since September 17. It also keeps SVC perfect against Wheelock, now sitting at 5-0 in the all-time series with the Wildcats.
Mountaineer freshman Connor Kristiansen (Shelton, Conn.) put home the game's opening goal, his first collegiate tally coming at the 15:24 mark. SVC senior captain Taylor Baker (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) also recorded his first goal of the year, the defender's third career score getting notched in the second half.
Sophomore captains Nikolas Joseph (Coventry, Conn.) and Kieran Enright (Perth, Australia) each had an assist in the win, as did freshman Devin Furphy (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) and sophomore Matthew Hatch (Sahuarita, Ariz.).
Southern Vermont freshman goalie Chris Jimenez (Newark, N.J.) made just three saves in the win (4-6-2), that being a testament to a great all-around performance from the Mountaineers which included a solid showing by the SVC backline. Baker, Hatch and freshman Jake Figueiredo (Wethersfield, Conn.) came together to form a defensive unit that conceded just seven total shots, only four of those by Wheelock being on frame.
Adversely, SVC registered 39 takes at the net with 22 of those being on goal.
Kristiansen got Southern Vermont on the board in the 16th minute with his first score as a Mountaineer, taking a feed from Joseph and capitalizing for the early 1-0 lead. That would not last long, however, as Wheelock was able to tie it up with an unassisted tally off a direct kick just 3:17 later on.
Less than two minutes after, McGovern got his first of the game to go to put Southern Vermont on top, and the visitors never looked back the rest of the way. He would score two more times through the remainder of the period, sending SVC into the halftime break up 4-1; his second goal was assisted by Furphy, the freshman's first collegiate helper coming in the 32nd minute.
Hatch recorded his third assist of the season as McGovern got the scoring started in the second half at the 63:24 mark, and Baker was then selected to take a penalty kick in the 70th minute for Southern Vermont to go in front by a 6-1 margin. Enright set up McGovern less than three minutes later for his first assist of the year, and McGovern completed his second-half hat-trick with 3:41 left on the clock to take a strong lead in the Conference's goals category.
– #LetsGoSVC –