Men's Soccer Drops Conference Opener at Mitchell

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Elms College men's soccer team battled to a 2-1 defeat Mitchell on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field in the New England Collegiate Conference opener for both squads.

Freshman forward Andrew Storton (Oxford, England/The Downs School) tallied both goals for the Mariners (3-4-1 overall, 1-0-0 NECC) while sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Drake (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield) made six saves.Donald Whittle (Somers, Conn./Somers) scored for Elms, which dropped to 2-6-0 overall and 0-1-0 in league play.

The Mariners jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 27^th minute when Andrew Nigro (East Granby, Conn./East Granby) ripped a shot across the 18-yard box. Storton settled the rebound from Nigro's strike and pushed it past the Elms keeper for his first goal of the match.

Elms evened the game at 1-1 in the 37^th minute as Whittle buried a penalty kick awarded on a Mitchell hand ball in the box. The tally was his team-leading fourth of the season.

Storton lifted the Mariners back into the lead in the 71^st minute from the penalty spot. After an Elms defender was whistled for a hand ball in the box, Storton took the ensuing penalty kick and clanged in a shot off the crossbar to put Mitchell ahead 2-1. The goal was his team-leading fourth of the season.

Mitchell continued to pepper the Elms goal but came away empty multiple times. With 11 minutes to go, goalkeeperNicholson Pennant (St. Andrew, Jamaica/Camperdown) turned away two successive attempts with diving stops to keep the Blazers in the game. The final 10 minutes of play also saw a shot off the crossbar from Nigro and a strike off the post from freshman Christian Tomaj (Stamford, Conn./Stamford).

Elms nearly evened the game in the 85^th minute when Whittle sent a header toward goal that ticked off the top of the crossbar and over. The Mariners then played out the remainder of regulation without allowing another shot on goal.

Pennant played all 90 minutes in goal and tallied six saves against 18 shots.

 Elms will look to return to the win column against MCLA on Tuesday, September 29 at 5 p.m at Leary Field. Mitchell returns to action at Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, September 30 at 5 p.m.

Source: (Mitchell Athletics)

ELMS SOCCER