KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Oct. 30, 2022) – The USMMA men's soccer team moved on to the Semifinal Round of the Skyline Conference Championships in exhilarating fashion on Sunday afternoon. The #3-seed Mariners took down the visiting #6-seed Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins, 2-1, thanks to a header goal from junior
Miguel Millan (Lake Travis, Texas) with 57 seconds remaining in regulation. Merchant Marine's sixth-straight victory improved their record to 10-4-5 overall, while CMSV's loss ended their season with a record of 7-6-3.
Game Links
Just over two minutes into the contest, a loose ball off a throw-in found the right foot of freshman
Michael Hofstetter (Deer Park, N.Y.). Hofstetter's shot appeared destined for the twine, but a handball in the box from the Dolphins' Donovan Speer kept the ball out of the net. In turn, a red card was issued to Speer and the visitors had to play the rest of the game down a man.
With an early penalty kick granted to his club, Head Coach
Drew McCarthy called on freshman
Wes Ferry (Newport, N.C.) to take the PK. Ferry answered the bell by ripping his fourth goal of the season inside the near post to put Merchant Marine on top 1-0 at the 2:02 mark.
Much to Mount Saint Vincent's credit, they slowed down the Merchant Marine attack following Ferry's tally. Strong defense from the Dolphins led to offense as they established possession and moved in on the Mariners' defense.
The pressure led to leading scorer Ian Lamas drawing a penalty kick of his own. Junior
Ashton Carey (Pasadena, Md.), who had yet to see a shot on goal, was given an early test. Lamas beat Carey inside the near post at 15:44 of the first half for his eleventh goal of the year to tie the game 1-1.
Following the goals, both teams tightened up defensively although the shots kept coming from USMMA. Shots were 14-1 in favor of Merchant Marine at halftime, but all that mattered was the 1-1 tie on the scoreboard.
The second half started how the first half ended: with defense. Every inch of the field was contested which forced USMMA to fire shots whenever they had a chance. Shots for the game were 27-7 favoring the Mariners and 8-5 USMMA in the on-goal category.
As the clock wound towards the end of regulation, Merchant Marine was looking to pull another rabbit out of the hat at Tomb Field. Back on Oct. 15, freshman
Clayton Ecalono (Pleasant Grove, Utah) scored the game-winner against Mount Saint Mary with 1:56 remaining off a throw-in from sophomore
Derek Vanasse (Camarillo, Calif.).
Well with 1:07 and ticking on the clock, Vanasse had presumably his final throw-in of regulation. From the near side of the field, Vanasse let it fly. Off a tip in front of the net, the ball found Millan uncovered at the far post who headed home the game-winner to send Tomb Field into a frenzy. The goal was Millan's third of the season and certainly the most important. As they say, three is the magic number.
The Mariners now look ahead to a Skyline Semifinal matchup in Farmingdale against the #2-seed Farmingdale State Rams on Thursday, Nov. 3. USMMA and the Rams tied 0-0 in their only meeting this season back on Sept. 24. Merchant Marine will strive to make their first Skyline Finals appearance since 2018. Live stats and a live video feed of the game will be available with links on
the USMMA Men's Soccer Schedule Page.
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