Box Score PAXTON, Mass. – The Norwich University men's soccer team scored three unanswered goals to rally to a 3-1 win over Anna Maria College on a cold and wet afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.
Sophomores Jeff Purdy (Grantham, N.H) and Chase Hainey (Fryeburg, Maine), as well as junior Jacob Zimmerman (Litchfield, N.H.) each scored goals for the Cadets as they won their fourth straight game.
Norwich (8-3-1, 4-1-0 GNAC) fell behind in the 30th minute with a 35-yard shot from Christopher Mattioli that skipped through the hands of NU freshman goalkeeper Stefan Skoff (San Jose, Calif.) to give the AMCATS a 1-0 lead.
However, Norwich rallied from there as Purdy leveled the score with a 25-yard free kick blast through the Anna Maria wall of defenders to make it 1-1. Purdy blasted a hard-low shot that hardly left the ground and found its way past Anna Maria goalkeeper Elliot Kuzma.
The Cadets kept the momentum rolling in the second half as 5:26 into the second frame the junior forward tandem of Zimmerman and Alec Brigante (Colchester, Vt.) hooked up again for Zimmerman's seventh goal of the season and third in as many games.
Brigante fed Zimmerman the ball from the wing and Zimmerman did the rest, ripping a quick, low shot past a defender and into the back of the net. Hainey capped the scoring in the 75th minute with his seventh goal of the season by stripping an Anna Maria defender and chipped the ball in from 20 yards out.
Skoff made four saves to improve to 8-3-1 on the season in goal.
Norwich temporarily sits in first place in the GNAC standings with 12 points. However, Mount Ida has 10 points and has a game in hand on the Cadets. NU returns to action on Monday, Oct. 12 when it hosts Rivier in another GNAC matchup. The Cadets will also travel to Plymouth State on Wednesday, Oct. 14 for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference match.
