Lyons improve to 3-0-1 on Nordin Field

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's soccer team, ranked No. 15 overall in the latest D3soccer.com national poll and No. 25 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national rankings, downed Colby-Sawyer College, 5-0, in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Nordin Field.

Wheaton senior forward Travis Blair (Hastings, N.Y./Hastings) scored twice, which included his ninth career penalty kick, while classmate Ben Altneu (Orleans, Mass./Nauset Regional), junior Noah Kossoff (New York, N.Y./Birch Wathen Lenox School) and first-year Louis Chavez (Porterville, Calif./Northfield Mount Hermon School) also found the back of the net for the Lyons.

Colby-Sawyer first-year goalkeeper Jeff Cummings (Durham, Conn./Coginchaug Regional) made a career-high 11 saves in the loss (0-2-1).

Wheaton junior goalkeeper Matt Dickey (Newton, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon School) did not record a save as the defense held the Chargers to just three shots total in the contest. With the win, Dickey bumps his record to 10-0-1 on the season and 29-11-5 in his career, which now puts him No. 4 all-time on the career wins list ahead of Cole Davidson '10 who compiled 28 wins from 2007-09.

Kossoff got the offense started in the ninth minute with his sixth goal of the season off feeds from first-year back Sean Hurlburt (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional) and senior Scott Enman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Packer Collegiate Institute). After Enman delivered Hurlburt the ball with a quick throw-in pass, Hurlburt gained space near the left corner of the box and lofted a cross to Kossoff near the penalty area that was promptly headed home for the 1-0 advantage.

Late in the first half (33:13), Altneu pushed Wheaton's lead to 2-0 with a wide-open goal near the left post for his seventh tally of the season. Junior midfielder Kevin Gil (Pawtucket, R.I./Wheeler School) struck a perfect through ball to first-year forward Liam Daniels (New York, N.Y./Northfield Mount Hermon School) into the right flank. Daniels then hustled by his defender near the right sideline and followed with a sharply hit, low cross that bounced by the dive of Cummings just in front of the goalmouth for Altneu who was left unattended near the back post for the easy strike.

Blair increased the gap to 3-0 with his ninth career penalty kick – in as many tries – in the 51st minute and also buried his second marker of the game at 55:50 to seal the victory and collect his 12th multi-goal game of his career.

Chavez capped the scoring at 66:00 with a shot from just outside the box after a give-and-go connection was made with Daniels at the top-right corner of the box.

Wheaton (15-2-2, 5-0-1 NEWMAC) hosts Clark University on Saturday for a conference matchup at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, Wheaton will honor its eight seniors including Enman, Luke Finkelstein (Peabody, Mass./Peabody), Blair, Brian Kenny (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Iona Prep), Marlon Ramalho (Framingham, Mass./Bridgton Academy), Altneu, Jacob Battipaglia (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) and Matheus Goncalves (Framingham, Mass./Worcester Academy) for their contributions towards the men's soccer program. Colby-Sawyer (11-5-2, 7-1-1 NAC) will host either Thomas College or Castleton in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament as the No. 1 seed next Tuesday at a time to be determined later.  

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