ALBANY, N.Y.—The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) men's soccer team dropped its season opener to the Panthers of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) 4-3 in a non-conference road game on Sunday, Sept. 1.
The Panthers put away two quick ones courtesy of Austin Myers at the 10:20 minute-mark and again less than two minutes later. SMCC's Alvaro Coto (Lyman, Maine) cut the deficit in half on a ball delivered by junior defender Stephen Brady (Rochester, N.H.) midway through the first half.
Albany netted a third goal off the foot of Noah Keith to begin the second but it was answered by first-year forward Mohamed Matan (Lewiston, Maine) on a rifle from the edge of the 18-yard box nearing 48 minutes.
Keith scored his second of the afternoon on a penalty kick to push the Panthers to 4-2. Matan too scored again for the road team, this time on a header goal off of a chip cross from sophomore Maxwell Pushaw (Hope, Maine). The SeaWolves could not find the equalizer with 10 minutes remaining, beginning the season 0-1-0.
SMCC used two goalkeepers to record three saves on seven shots on goal—sophomore Camden Labrecque (Saco, Maine) played 71 minutes and was taxed the loss.
In a post-game interview, Head Coach Brian Dougher commented, "This was a hard fought game by both sides. Offensively we created plenty of chances and showed resilience in working out of an early 2-0 hole. If we can clean up the mistakes on the defensive end, we'll be tough as the season moves along."
The SeaWolves will play host to Northern Essex Community College on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Wainwright Recreation Complex for a 4 p.m. start time. LIVE STATS available HERE.
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