BALTIMORE, Md. - Navy defeated Mount St. Mary's 3-1 in the
opening game of the Adidas Kickoff Classic hosted by UMBC in
non-conference men's soccer action on Thursday.
Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) scored
the Mount's (1-2-0) lone goal of the afternoon off a Steve Pathroff
(North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) assist in the 77th minute.
Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) made three saves
in the loss.
Mike Porcelli, David Jackson and Michael Rakoczy each found the
twine for the Midshipmen (2-1-0) while Tyler Bristol made four
saves in the winning effort.
Navy scored a goal in the closing minutes of the first half
before adding two tallies early in the second half and never looked
back to earn the victory in the opening game of the Adidas Kickoff
Classic.
Porcelli notched the first goal of the game when he scored near
the left post at 43:41 off a Seth Stewart assist to give the
Midshipmen a 1-0 advantage going into halftime.
Navy added two goals in a span of five minutes in the final
frame to increase its margin to 3-0 with 23 minutes remaining.
Jackson found the back of the netting off a Sam Miller helper at
61:25 and then Rakoczy sealed the win with an unassisted tally at
66:15.
Mount St. Mary's continued its success of scoring in the final
16 minutes when Wheeler notched his first goal of the year on a
header off a pass from Pathroff at 76:46. The Mount has scored all
seven goals this season in the final 16 minutes of the match.
Wheeler, who paced the squad with 12 goals in his freshman
campaign, found the twine for the first time in 2009. Wheeler
finished the game with nine shots and leads the team with 21 shots
on the year.
The Mountaineers outshot the Midshipmen 17-12 on the afternoon
and had three chances to score after Wheeler cut the deficit to two
goals. The sophomore missed high in the 79th minute, Gary Phinith
(Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) had his shot saved in the 85th minute
while Scott Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) notched the
Mount's final scoring threat and missed wide in the 86th
minute.
Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Saturday at the Adidas
Kickoff Classic against host UMBC. Match time is 2:30 p.m.
