Box Score NEW LONDON, Conn.--The Connecticut College men's soccer team scored a pair of goals in a span of 4:20 of the first half and the defense took care of the rest as the Camels went on to defeat Bates College 2-0 in NESCAC action played on Tempel Green Saturday.
The Camels improve their record to 5-2-2 with a 1-2-2 mark in the NESCAC. The Bobcats slip to 1-4-2 and are 0-4-2 in league play.
The Bobcats slip to 1-4-2 overall with a 0-4-2 record in league action.
"This was a good win for us today," tri-captain Paul Bacigalupo (Encino, Calif) said. "We worked hard to keep a clean sheet. Casey Marini, a senior tri-captain and goalkeeper from Hampden, Mass. was impressed with the job of the defense and his friend Max Nichols' (Mill Valley, Calif.) performance in goal.
"Max has been awesome for us," Marini said. "We build off of that play in the back. We have gotten terrific play from our two center backs as well and the entire defensive corps."
Billy Hawkey, a senior tri-captain from Pennington, N.J.is enjoying a terrific season up front and leads the league with six goals scored.
"Our mentality right now is that this is the playoffs," Hawkey said with conviction. "Every practice, every workout and every game is very important to all of us."
Connecticut College opened the scoring in the 29th minute of action. Sophomore Doug Garabedian (Salem, Mass.) launched a corner kick from the left side to the center of the box. Kevin O'Brien (Wellesley, Mass.) was running from the far post side of the goal and timed his jump perfectly to finish with a nifty looking header that landed in the top of the netting.
Later on in the 33rd minute of action, the Camels extended their lead. Junior Zach Punt (West Hartford, Conn.) buried a penalty kick into the lower right side of the goal for the Camels.
Bates had an opportunity to get one back just before the first half horn was sounded. Lee Sandquist (Doylestown, Pa.) found a seam and belted a low line drive that hooked to the left of the Camel goal and out of play.
In the second stanza, the Bobcats had five shots. With 18 minutes left, Jonathan Lin (Natick, Mass.) made a nice bid for a goal when he headed a shot on a nice re-direction with the pass coming from Noah Riskind (Bethesda, Md.).
But Connecticut College senior Max Nichols (Mill Valley, Calif.) was able to make the stop, one of his four saves on the day. Nichols earned his fourth shutout of the season Saturday.
Bates College sophomore keeper Joe Maffly-Kipp (Chapel Hill, N.C.) finished with six saves in the setback. Maffly-Kipp made two nice stops in the final seven minutes of regulation in one-on-one situations against the Camels.
Connecticut College enjoyed a 14-to-8 advantage in shots and also enjoyed a 4-to-2 edge in corner kicks.
