MCLA opens season with 1-0 road win at Western Connecticut
Liroy Ozinci's first half goal was the only tally in a 1-0 season opening road victory for the MCLA Men's soccer team.
DANBURY, CT (Sept. 4) — MCLA junior Liroy Ozinci (Plainview, NY) scored the game's only goal in the 13th minute to lift the visiting Trailblazers over Western Connecticut State University 1-0 in the 2010 season opener for the Trailblazers Saturday afternoon at the Westside Athletics Complex.
For MCLA, the game-winning goal came when sophomore Jake McCall (Lincoln, RI) moved the ball deep into the WestConn end of the field just outside the right side of the box. McCall worked around a WestConn defender and made a quick pass across the box. WestConn goalkeeper Jack Holub (Sherman, CT) dove to intercept the pass, but when he came up just short, Ozinci chipped the ball into the open goal, giving MCLA a 1-0 lead.
WestConn's best scoring chances came in the second half of play, when the Colonials out-shot MCLA by a 10-2 margin. With 15 minutes remaining in the game, WestConn earned a corner kick that was taken by senior Luis Duque (Naugatuck, CT). Duque's pass found junior Ryan Rose (Bethel, CT) breaking toward the right post unmarked. Rose's header got past the MCLA goalkeeper, but slammed off the crossbar and out of play. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, Rose returned the favor with a pass to Duque who found a small opening on the right side of the MCLA defense, but the pass fell inches beyond Duque's reach and rolled harmlessly out of play.
For the game, WestConn finished with a 16-7 advantage in shots and a narrow 3-2 edge in corner kicks. WestConn's Holub finished with two saves in goal, but suffers the loss, while Dillon Wager (Amsterdam, NY) recorded six saves to earn the win for the Trailblazers.
With the loss, WestConn's season record falls to 1-1, while MCLA stands at 1-0. MCLA will host SUNY-Cobleskill on Wednesday.