KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Oct. 19, 2022) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men's soccer team grinded out a 1-0 victory in the program's first ever 142 Game against SUNY Maritime on Wednesday night. As the saying goes in sports, all you have to do is win by one, and win by one is exactly what the Mariners did tonight. With their third-straight victory, USMMA improved to 7-4-5 (4-1-4 Skyline), while the Privateers' loss dropped their record to 1-11-3 (0-7-2 Skyline).
Game Links
In a tightly-contested contest, the Mariners threw everything they had at Maritime goalkeeper Danny Madeira. Merchant Marine outshot the Privateers 24-2 for the game and 10-0 in shots on goal. Madeira did all he could to give his team a chance to win as USMMA kept firing away relentlessly at the cage.
For all shots Merchant Marine was taking, none were finding the twine behind Madeira. The Mariners' best scoring chances in the first half came on a penalty kick by senior
Connor Damaré (Slidell, La.) that was saved, and a shot off the crossbar by freshman
Clayton Ecalono (Pleasant Grove, Utah). Despite the offensive fury, Maritime escaped into halftime tied 0-0.
As the second half began, the shots just kept on coming from the Mariners. No matter whether it came from low, high, the near side or the far side, Madeira had an answer for every shot off a Mariner's foot.
USMMA's overwhelming push to score the icebreaker led to strong defense for
Drew McCarthy's club. Maritime recorded only two shots in the entire game, neither of which were on goal. Senior
Chase Miller (Boise, Idaho) recorded his first zero-save shutout of the season.
The name of the game for the Mariners tonight was, if you throw enough pieces of gum against the wall, one of them will eventually stick. That is exactly was happened with just under 31 minutes remaining in the game. A shot by sophomore
Derek Vanasse (Camarillo, Calif.) was saved easily by Madeira, but as Maritime's keeper passed the ball up field, he quickly looked over his shoulder to see the ball in his net.
An own goal off the foot of a Privateer defender on a failed clear was the only tally of tonight's contest. After all the Mariners' shots stopped by Madeira, it was his own teammate who knocked the ball into the net. At the 59:04 mark the Mariners broke the ice and led 1-0.
Merchant Marine clamped up defensively to close out the win. At times, the Mariners best defense was their offense, which melted the clock and kept the play in the Privateers' zone.
USMMA will try for their fourth-consecutive win in the final road match of the regular season as they will head to Patchogue, N.Y., for a date with the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College of Long Island. Seeding in the Skyline standings is on the line, as the Golden Eagles will enter Saturday's match with a 3-2-4 in-conference record. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at SJLI's Danzi Field. Live stats and a live video feed of the contest will be available with links on
the USMMA Men's Soccer Schedule Page.
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