Three second-half goals lift Seahawks over Buccaneers, 4-1

NEWPORT, R.I. (September 21, 2021) - Salve Regina University men's soccer scored three second-half goals to break away from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and finish with a 4-1 victory in non-conference action at Toppa Field.

The Buccaneers (1-6) briefly held a 1-0 lead when senior Michael Carey (Plympton, Mass.) converted a feed from classmate Jake McInerney (Hanover, Mass.) in the 10th minute.

The Seahawks (4-3-1) quickly knotted the score when junior Sam Winiarski (Westfield, Mass.) put back a rebound after a shot by Alessandro Oggiano (Stoughton, Mass.) in the 15th minute. The next 30 minutes went scoreless into halftime.

Salve Regina senior captain Rich Ventura (Floral Park, N.Y.) blasted a shot from outside the top of the box (25 yards away) that hit the back of the net for a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the second half.

Sophomore Zeke Menendez (Avon, Conn.) took a long pass from senior James Davies (London, England) and split four defenders to expand the Seahawk advantage to two goals, 3-1. Oggiano finished the scoring when he converted a cross from sophomore Evan Arpin (Andover, Mass.) in the 61st minute.

Nathan Reid (Magnolia, Del.) picked up his fourth victory as goalkeeper with three saves. John Murphy (Braintree, Mass.) took the loss after stopping five shots in 64 minutes; Mitch Hardy (Pepperell, Mass.) made two saves in the final 26 minutes.

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"A midweek non-conference match, like this one, can be tough in that it is sandwiched between two conference matches on the weekend. So you're coming out of the euphoria of having won your conference opener… and convincingly… and then you can't get caught up in looking ahead to the next conference match on the weekend because you still need to take care of business in the midweek non-conference tilt. I thought we came out well and asserted ourselves in the match. The goal that they scored in the 10th minute was mostly against the run of play and I think it might have actually been their first real shot of the game. We should have done better in clearing the first ball but it was allowed to drop and their player took his first touch to clear himself and then turned and hit a half chance into the ground and off of us. But I think the measure of a quality team comes in how it responds to adversity and maybe, in some way, we were able to galvanize ourselves in that moment and found a way to get back on the front foot. Winiarski's goal came after a spell of real, sustained pressure where we had chance after chance after chance and Mass Maritime was on the back foot just holding on. Then after the break, Ventura's goal just 48-seconds into the second half really set the tempo for what we wanted to do. From there on, we were able to take control of the match and create the quality of chances that we needed to secure the result. Arpin, Menendez, and Oggiano all showed their quality in that second half and as the third and fourth found the back of the net, we continued to grow in the match." - Salve Regina head coach Craig O'Rourke II

Next Up
Salve Regina returns to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action with a road test at Suffolk University on Saturday (4 p.m.). The Buccaneers have a MASCAC matchup with Salem State on Friday in Buzzards Bay, Mass. (7 p.m.).