Box Score NEWTON, Mass. – The Norwich men's soccer team capitalized on an own goal by Mount Ida during the first half of Wednesday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference match and then never looked back as the Cadets walked off with a 2-0 win over the Mustangs.
Sophomore midfielder Eric Weir played a ball off of Mount Ida's Chris MacKinnon that deflected past Mustang goalkeeper Matt Pils and into the back of the net to give NU a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.
Fellow sophomore Joe Young added an insurance tally for the Cadets (4-6-0, 2-2-0 GNAC) in the 56th minute to cap the scoring and give Norwich a 2-0 lead. Junior midfielder Garrett Shufelt recorded the assist for his team-leading ninth point.
The NU defense and sophomore goalkeeper Alex Toomey took over from there as they combined to stifle Mount Ida's offense for the full 90 minutes and earn Toomey's second clean sheet of the season.
Although Mount Ida (3-6-0, 2-3-0 GNAC) outshot Norwich 15-12, only two of the Mustangs shots were on net and Toomey turned both aside to improve to 3-4 on the season. Pils took the loss for Mount Ida after recording seven saves on nine shots on net.
Both teams picked up three yellow cards and Norwich was whistled for 20 fouls, while Mount Ida had 14.
"Mount Ida is a much improved team this year and it's a very difficult place to win," NU head coach Kyle Dezotell said. "We're pleased with a good road performance and look to continue to improve."
Norwich returns home looking to win its fourth game in its last five as the Cadets host perennial-GNAC power and conference leader Albertus Magnus on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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