Box Score NEW LONDON, Conn.—Freshman Mark Leon (Wrentham, Mass.) scored his team leading fourth and fifth goals of the season to lead the Connecticut College men's soccer team to its fourth straight win in a 2-0 blanking of Trinity College Tuesday.
The surging Camels improved their record to 6-2 and are 3-2 in the NESCAC. The visiting Bantams fell to 2-4-2 and are 0-4-1 in conference play.
Leon opened the scoring in the 21st minute of play when he stole the ball away from Trinity goalie Mateo Zabala (Paterson, N.J.) and dribbled in for the uncontested score. But the visitors had their chances. With 15:30 remaining, Connecticut College senior Colin Patch (Providence, R.I.) was able to break up a potential 2-on-1 situation for the visitors.
Then, with 3:51 to go in the half, the Bantams nearly tied the score. Junior Tobias Gimand (Fairfield, Conn.) unloaded with a shot from the center of the box but it sailed over the cross bar and the Camels were able to carry the one goal advantage into the break.
Just over nine minutes into the second half, the Camels added an important insurance goal with some nice ball rotation through the midfield. Ajami Gikandi (Princeton, N.J.) dribbled up the left side of the field and delivered a cross to Christian Murphy (Newport News, Va.) on the right side of the box. Murphy unloaded with a shot but Zabala made the save. But Leon was able to pounce on the rebound for his second goal of the day and fifth of the season.
Sophomore Nate Summers (Westfield, Mass.) was a leader in the defensive corps and junior Pat Devlin (Washington Crossing, Pa.) continues to make smart decisions anchoring the midfield for the Camels.
"The first half was definitely a little hectic," Summers said. "But as soon as we started playing our game, things started to fall in place. It was lot of pressure at times, but with good midfielders like Pat Devlin tracking runners through, it makes our job a whole lot easier. We try to stay calm, cool and collective in the back. There's a lot of communication"
Devlin is just thrilled to be 6-2.
"This is definitely an exciting season," Devlin exclaimed. "We're already getting ready for Williams. The team morale is up there. Everyone is excited! Everyone is having fun and we're going to just keep going and see how far we can go. Leon is coming in with some big goals for us. We need to put in the easy goals and it's nice that we can have a freshman come in right away and score for us. You definitely have to give some credit to our defense because they've just been holding it down back there and we would not have been able to be getting these results without the work that they have been putting in for us."
Austin DaCunha (Brookfield, Conn. made two stops en route to his third shutout of the season for the Camels.
Zabala finished with four saves for the Bantams.
