RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Survive and advance. The third-seeded Manhattan men's soccer team took down sixth-seeded Fairfield, 2-0, to advance to the semifinals of the MAAC Championship on Sunday at Gaelic Park.
With this evening's triumph, the Jaspers will get another look at Iona, who handed the Jaspers their only conference loss of the season, this coming Thursday, with the time to be announced.
"Firstly, congratulations to Fairfield on a fantastic season, and it was a great game between two teams giving their all," commented head coach Jorden Scott following the victory. "We work every day to be able to play in games like tonight, under the lights, with all our alumni, family, and friends in the stands. We are grateful for our school's campus support and dedication to putting Jaspers Soccer at this level of competition. I am proud of my staff and players for believing in the vision. We are not done yet."
Manhattan was in control for the entire match and set the tone early. In the second minute,
Gunnar Studenhofft got a clean look at the net and fired a shot but the Stags keeper, James Anderson, took the ball on the chin to make the save.
Studenhofft was not finished applying the pressure. In the 19th minute, a Stags defender attempted to get the ball back to Anderson, but Studenhofft rushed in and put the ball in the back of the net to give Manhattan a 1-0 lead.
The Jaspers then added another goal in the first half. Studenhofft took a long ball and worked toward the box. He found
Ronaldo Da Silva through multiple red jerseys, and Da Silva buried the shot to take a 2-0 lead.
In the second half, the Stags came inches away from getting on the board, but standout defender
Nassim Akki flew in and kept the ball from crossing the line to preserve the shutout.
The Green and White outshot Fairfield 10-6, 4-3 on target.
Danny DiMarco turned in another clean sheet while making two saves.
