ROCHESTER, N.Y. ---- Deadlocked in a scoreless tie at the half, the Massasoit men's soccer team scored twice after intermission and hung on for a 2-1 road victory at Monroe Community College on Saturday afternoon.
Massasoit (1-1) will take on Bryant & Stratton College in Syracuse, N.Y., on Sunday at 12 PM.
"It was a very good game for the boys today," head coach Rui Estrela said. "In the first half we played kind of crazy. We were dropping off players and not pressuring the ball. After addressing that at halftime, they played really hard in the second half and listened to us."
After neither team could find the back of the net in the opening stanza, the Warriors broke through in the 50th minute of action.
Sophomore Darcy Guimaraes (Rockland) took the pass out wide and found Edmar Goncalves (Brockton) in the center of the Tribune defense. Goncalves then crossed a pass into the box, where Leon Zaffonato (Brazil) was there to finish and give Massasoit 1-0 lead.
Less than five minutes later, Guimaraes caused more problems for Monroe CC. The Rockland native worked his way into the box with the ball and was taken down as the Tribune defense was whistled for a penalty kick.
Newcomer Saidon Bamba (Cape Verde) calmly stepped up and buried the PK, extending the Warrior lead to 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 until the 87th minute when Monroe CC scored off a corner kick.
But, Massasoit would hold on and prevail, 2-1 to even up its record at 1-1 on the young season.
Massasoit received another strong showing in net by keeper David Isaac (Brockton). The freshman made six saves during the match.
"It was another great job in net by David today," Estrela said. "Also, Junior Pereira (Brockton) got in during the second half and was a big difference maker for us in the center of the midfield. Devondre Armstrong also played very strong up top and put pressure on the Monroe defense all game long."