The men’s soccer team, with a 6-3 victory over Adelphi Wednesday, earned its first win of the season, and doubled its goal scoring total in the process. The team took to the field, following the win, on Sept. 22 to take on Le Moyne, but came out on the losing end, 3-0.

Wednesday’s contest against Adelphi got off to a slow start, with Panthers scoring the opening goal in the early stages of the game. The Chargers would counter a few minutes later, as senior Aurochit Patniak got on the scoresheet for the first time in two years to equalize for New Haven, and the score was 1-1 entering the halftime break.

During the second half the Chargers went down once again, but a miscommunication in the backfield for Adelphi put a goal in for New Haven to tie at two. Just 45 seconds later, it was Patniak once again drilling a one time shot from the far side of the field to put the Chargers up 3-2. Adelphi’s James Thristino would tack on his second goal of the game to level the score at three.

New Haven would later have a free kick from about 30 yards out and was awarded a penalty for an Adelphi handball in the box. With Patniak on the bench, graduate student Enrique Barboto stepped up and put the ball in the bottom corner to put the Chargers on top 4-3. In the final minutes of the game, senior Abdullah Alamoudi ran the ball up the field off an Adelphi corner and passed across the field to sophomore Alessandro Pappalardo to give the Chargers a two goal advantage. Just 22 seconds later, another odd man rush saw freshman Alvaro Ezpeleta chip the Adelphi keeper and seal a 6-3 victory for the Chargers, the program’s first ever victory over Adelphi.

As for the game against Le Moyne, it was a scrappy contest and a competitive match throughout. Several questionable calls by both the head official and near-side assistant contributed to the score-line. Including a controversial no-call for offsides in the late stages of the first half, that allowed for Le Moyne’s second goal to count. On top of this call, another no-call after a New Haven player was tackled in the box in the second half, allowed for another chance on the counter-attack for the Dolphins.

While the result against Le Moyne wasn’t what the Chargers were hoping for, the fact that 4 different players scored in the win against Adelphi should serve as a confidence boost as they head into this week’s matchups at American International  on Sept. 24 and at home vs Franklin Pierce on Sept. 30.