Brooklyn, New York--- Behind a pair of second half goals, the St. Francis College men’s soccer team defeated the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, 2-0, at Aviator Sports & Events Center on a chilly Friday afternoon.   

“It was a great team effort today,” said head coach Tom Giovatto.  “I am very pleased with the way the guys played as a whole.  This truly is a team effort and today we got a big lifts from Ben (Graver) and John (Johansson).  For Ben, he made the most of his time by winning crucial second-ball opportunities.  JJ continues to improve game-by-game.  His awareness and ability to create opportunities for his teammates is top-notched.   

The game-winner came in the 75th minute as senior forward John Sallhag received a long lead pass from De Lorenzi and the native of Vaxjo, Sweden was able to beat Davis to his right and put the ball to the back of the net to give the Terriers a 1-0 advantage.   

Junior captain Robbie Weir added an insurance goal in the 89th minute after receiving the pass from Gabriel Bagot as Weir was able to chip shot the ball from ten yards out to give St. Francis the 2-0 advantage with fifty-four seconds remaining in the contest.

The first half of action was a complete stalemate as both teams tried to find their rhythm, with the winds coming from all different angles at the South Brooklyn field.  The Terriers had a shot to record the games first tally as senior defenseman Nick Baum blasted a shot on goal that was turned away by The Mountaineers (5-8-0; 2-3-0 NEC) goalkeeper Chris Davis in the 15th minute.

The Mount’s Ty Fenstermacher found himself past two Terrier defenders and booted a shot that sailed over the goal to keep the score deadlocked at zero.  Mount St. Mary’s striker Chris Wheeler, the leading goal scorer of the Northeast Conference entering the game, had two opportunities to increase his season total but was turned away by junior goalkeeper Curtis Julien in the 34th minute.   

His second opportunity ricocheted off a St. Francis defender and teammate Scott Phinith found the loose ball and kicked it over the goal to keep the game scoreless.  For the stanza, Julien and Davis held their ground between the pipes as each goalkeeper turned away three shots.   

In the second half of play, the Terriers (4-5-2; 2-2-0 NEC) came out determined to remain unbeaten at home.  In the 51st minute, senior striker Jeverton De Lorenzi had placed a well-timed header on the ball but was denied by Davis.   

St. Francis will be back at Aviator on Sunday afternoon as they play host to the # 10 ranked Monmouth University Hawks in a Northeast Conference showdown.  Kickoff will begin at 1:00 pm.