WENHAM, Mass.—Western New England outlasted an onslaught of Gordon shots to defeat the Fighting Scots 2-1 in Men's Soccer on Saturday at the Brigham Athletic Complex. Logan Pingree (Middletown, Conn.) and Troy Remillard (West Newbury, Mass.) gave the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead midway through the second half and Gordon could never fully recover.
The Fighting Scots drop their second consecutive game at home and 2-2 overall. Western New England improves to 2-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Gordon pressed WNE keeper Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) all night, but the junior made several big saves to keep the Scots out of the twine early. Sammy Wilson (Ansonia, Conn.) and Josh Cochran (Bellville, Ohio) both had nice headers toward goal that were saved during the first 10 minutes.
Packed in on defense on one side, Western New England was smart about choosing to counter back on offense. Pingree made Gordon pay on a giveaway in the back third where the defender passed it toward the middle of the field. Pingree intercepted the pass and curved a ball past Josh Spoonhour (Greencastle, Pa.), who had come off his line to cut off the attack.
The Scots hunted for the equalizer early in the second half, but the Golden Bears temporarily deflated their sails with a second goal in the 63rd minute. Talented striker Remillard was the beneficiary of a headed pass from Alan Haberen (Durham, Conn.). The ball skipped over the defender's foot, right to Remillard, who buried it for the Golden Bears.
Gordon took some momentum back when they scored a minute later on a misdirect in the middle of the defense. Ben Gradert (Hudson, Ohio) cleaned up a loose ball in front of the net to bring the Scots back within one.
The Scots had several prime opportunities over the final 15 minutes while almost exclusively holding the ball during that span. Western New England was able to muck up the Gordon attack with all 11 players in the final third of the field and limited any great looks.
Strobel made eight saves for the Golden Bears, as Gordon outshot Western New England 16-7 and 10-4 on net. Spoonhour was only forced into two saves on the evening.
Gordon will look to snap its two-game skid on Tuesday when they travel to Framingham State for a 4 p.m. start. Western New England hosts regional power Amherst on Wednesday.
