MANCHESTER, N.H.- Southern Connecticut State University men's soccer defeated Saint Anselm College 4-1 in a Northeast 10 conference match up Saturday in Manchester, N.H. With the win, the Owls move to 7-3-4 overall and 4-1-3 in the NE10, while the Hawks fall to 4-5-5 overall and 1-5-2 in the NE10.
Jeremy Martin led the way for the Owls with two goals and an assist. Samuel Nagy and Ryad Benmessaoud also scored for the Owls, while Benmessaoud, Jake Novoshelski and Kasper Murzinski had assists. Diego Flores had five saves.
After going down 1-0 on an early goal by the Hawks, the Owls offense responded in the 25th minute. Off of a corner attempt, it was Martin slashing toward the goal. Martin's pass found Novoshelski directly in front of the goal. He then fired a pass back to Benmessaoud. Benmessaoud put the ball past the sliding goalkeeper for his first goal as a Southern Owl tying the game at 1-1.
In the 32nd minute, the Owls would add another goal when Murzinski set up for a throw in just outside the box. Murzinski sent a long throw toward the middle of the box, which connected with the head of Martin and found the top right corner of the goal, giving the Owls their first lead of the game at 2-1.
Despite gaining the lead, the Owls offense did not stop there, adding one more goal before halftime when Benmessaoud sent a cross into the box. The cross found the leaping Nagy who sent the ball into the top left corner of the goal extending the Owls lead to 3-1.
Following an eventful first half, the Owls offense went quiet for the first 28 minutes of the second. In the 73rd minute, Novoshelski won the ball off a Murzinski throw in and sent a touch pass in to Martin who tapped the ball into the goal, for his second goal of the day extending the Owls lead to 4-1.
The Owls scored a season best four goals in a single game. The last time the Owls scored four goals in a game was Oct. 17, 2023 against Assumption.
Southern Connecticut is back in action on Tuesday Oct. 28 when they host Dominican University at 7 PM at Jess Dow Field for a non conference match up. The Owls then close out their season at home against Bentley in a NE 10 matchup starting at 4 PM.
