Box Score (Photo Courtesy Jennifer Langille Photography)
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team rebounded from a tough league loss at Lasell on Wednesday with a resounding 6-0 shutout win over Anna Maria on Saturday in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action at Howard Field.
Junior forward Anthony Amell (Northfield, Vt.) scored twice and picked up an assist while senior midfielder Garrett Shufelt (Clifton Park, N.Y.) added a goal and an assist to lead the Cadets' offense on the day.
Norwich improved to 5-3 on the year and 3-1 in GNAC play while Anna Maria dropped to 2-4-1 overall and 0-3-1 in league matches.
Junior Joe Young (McLean, Va.) opened the scoring just 5:02 into the match when he successfully converted on a bicycle-kick shot off a corner kick service from sophomore midfielder Chris Bristol (Clinton, Conn.). The assist was Bristol's team-leading sixth of the season and now gives him 15 in his career, just 14 away from tying the school all-time record.
Amell scored his first goal of the day in the 16th minute when he beat Anna Maria College goalkeeper Scott Webster to the left to increase the Norwich lead to 2-0 off an assist from freshman midfielder Austen McGuire (Overland Park, Kan.)
In the 23rd minute, Amell and senior forward Mike Ravenelle (Merrimack, N.H.) hooked up for a pretty give-and-go goal that ended with Ravenelle tapping the ball over the line after Amell dribbled around the AMCATS' keeper and centered the ball back toward the empty goal.
Amell added his fourth goal of the season in the 63rd minute to tie freshman Ludo Kamga (Tunis, Tunisia) for the team lead on the year. Shufelt picked up the assist by playing a nice through ball over the top that Amell put home. Shufelt then tallied his second goal of the season a little over three minutes later when he flicked home a pass from McGuire on the right wing to make it 5-0 Norwich.
Sophomore midfielder Ryan Curley (East Haddam, Conn.) capped the scoring in the 88th minute with his second goal of the season.
Norwich sophomore goalkeeper Greg Payne (State College, Pa.) picked up his first win of the season without having to make a save. Anna Maria's Webster made 11 saves before being relieved by Andrew Dahl for the final 11:11 of the match.
The Cadets outshot Anna Maria 45-4 and had 11 corner kicks to the AMCATS' zero. With Saturday's victory, Norwich head coach Kyle Dezotell moves to within two wins of breaking the all-time school record for career coaching wins. He currently sits at 87 career wins at Norwich in his seventh season at the helm of the program. Bob Friske (1995-2003) holds the record with 88.
NU returns to action tomorrow when it hosts Johnson State at 1 p.m. in a non-conference tilt at Howard Field. The game will be video streamed live on NSN at www.nsnsports.net/norwich. Norwich lost to Johnson State 4-2 last year to open the season.
-CADETS-
