Men’s soccer grabs first Northeast-10 Conference win of the year

Glenn Krzeminski, Sports Editor

The new-look men’s soccer team with Bruno Victal, former Brazilian National Team player at the helm got the season underway on Sept. 2. Saint A’s began the year hosting Stonehill as part of the Catholic Cup: the four catholic schools in the Northeast 10 competing against one another; Assumption and Saint Michael’s being the other two. The Hawks had some good moments of play versus Stonehill, but were not able to put a full 90 minutes of strong play together.

Senior goalie, Steve McLeod on the season so far: “We are thrilled with our new coach. The first game against Stonehill in the Catholic Cup was the first high intensity game we played. We had one scrimmage, but it is hard to mimic the speed and physicality of an NE-10 game. We played the kind of soccer we were looking for against Assumption and got the win. We felt like we dominated possession and had many good scoring chances throughout.”

Junior Zach Heintzelman versus Assumption last year.
Crier\Livy Ashburne
Junior Zach Heintzelman versus Assumption last year.

Meanwhile, it was a stretch of 6 minutes in the opening half that ultimately lead to the defeat in the contest against Stonehill. The men gave up three goals in successive order conceding an own goal at 34:08 to fall behind by two. The Hawks held much of the possession in the first half and individually, Zach Heckt recorded a game-high 8 shots for Saint A’s. Stonehill won convincingly taking the game by a final of 4-0 advancing to the final of the Catholic Cup.

Saint A’s and Assumption were ready to battle the next day, Sept. 3 quickly forgetting about their respective inaugural games. Both teams were looking to at least get a result in the consolation game of the Catholic Cup as Assumption dropped a 4-3 decision to Saint Michael’s in their first tilt.

The Greyhounds netted the first goal grabbing the lead in a rapid 53 seconds into the second half. The Hawks appeared stunned after conceding such an early goal coming out of the intermission, but they responded. It was the duo of sophomore Emmet O’Callaghan and senior Zach Heckt combining for the late equalizer in the 72nd minute and Heckt with the golden goal less than five minutes into the overtime session. Heckt scored on a header for the game-clincher as he got in alone behind the Assumption defense with just the goalkeeper to beat. And, this is exactly what he did slotting the ball into the back of the net giving Saint A’s its first win of the year.

Men’s soccer looks to build off their last performance in an overtime win against Assumption. The team was win-less in conference play last year, and already has been victorious in one of their first two NE-10 contests so far this season. The Hawks went on the road to face Assumption once again on Sept. 13, but the results were not available at the time of print.

Update: Men’s soccer lost to Assumption 1-0 on Sept. 13, making their current record 1-2.