WEST HAVEN, Conn. – A goal by Gui Dos Santos (Curitiba, Brazil/Bethel (Conn.)) in the 70th minute and a late flurry of offense by the University of New Haven men’s soccer team were not enough as the Chargers fell to visiting Molloy in their season opener, 2-1, on Thursday afternoon at Kayo Field.
New Haven (0-1-0) was the aggressor for much of the contest with 19 shots to the Lions’ (1-0-0) seven. The Chargers uncorked six attempts on goal – including five in the second half – compared to four tries on target by the visitors.
However, it was the Lions who notched the first two tallies of the contest. Tyler De La Torre started the scoring in the 26th minute, receiving a long ball and taking several touches before letting rip from 20-yards out. The ball sailed passed the dive of Anastasios Petridis (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon ) and into the far corner of the net to give Molloy a 1-0 lead.
The cushion held into the half, and the Lions then extended their edge with a goal in the 54th minute. Tom Garcia caused a turnover in the Charger backfield and crossed the ball to Jovani Ramos, who redirected it home to push the advantage to 2-0.
New Haven struck back in the 70th minute. A 50/50 ball found the foot of Dos Santos, who worked his way into the box and buried a strike to trim the margin to 2-1. The goal was the eighth of Dos Santos’ Charger career.
With the momentum swung in their direction, the Chargers maintained their offensive pressure over the final 20 minutes. A number of good looks sailed just high or wide, and New Haven’s aggressiveness nearly paid off in the final minute. A left-footed strike by Clancy Purcell (Shelton, Conn./Taft / University of Connecticut) was corralled by Lions’ keeper Michael Hunter with 45 seconds to play and, after a battle by Dave Ljungquist (Oxford, Conn./Seymour) down low, the Chargers earned a corner kick with only three ticks on the clock. Purcell launched the corner on target and it found Austin Coleman (North Haven, Conn./Hamden Hall Country Day ) in front, whose header was hauled in by Hunter as the final horn sounded.
Hunter finished win five saves to earn the win in net. Petridis corralled a pair of Molloy offerings in the losing effort.
New Haven returns to the pitch at Kayo Field on Sunday, Sept. 2 for a 1 p.m. outing against Holy Family. The contest will be broadcast live in high definition and available on most mobile devices on NewHavenChargers.com.
