Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team battled the three-time defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament champions Johnson & Wales to a 3-3 tie in a Saturday night thriller on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.
Junior midfielder Colin Lozito (Wilmington, Vt.) scored twice to lead the Norwich offense, while classmate Bryan Mazzola (Ridgefield, Conn.) scored the other tally to account for the Cadets' goals on the night.
It was a back and forth affair all night as Johnson & Wales (4-1-2, 1-0-1 GNAC) scored seven seconds into the game on a shot off the kickoff from midfield by Xavier Carty that beat NU goalkeeper Ryan Fitzpatrick over the top to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead.
Norwich (2-3-2, 0-0-2 GNAC) answered in the 18th minute with Lozito scoring off his own rebound on a quick flurry of three shots by the Norwich offense. Sophomore Matt Hilton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) ripped a shot off a cross by Luke Gleadle (Gilbert, Ariz.) that a JWU defender blocked on the goal line for a team save. The rebound kicked out to Lozito who fired a slow shot that JWU goalkeeper Nicholas Mancini blocked down, however the rebound came back to Lozito and he fired it into the back of the net to knot the game at 1-1.
JWU went up 2-1 when Norwich scored on itself off a corner kick after a serve from the right deflected off a NU player and into the back of the net. The Wildcats carried a 2-1 lead into the halftime break.
Norwich scored in the 67th minute to knot the game up again as Mazzola finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe setup from Moab Schiers (South Weber, Utah) and Gleadle. Schiers played the ball forward to the left to Gleadle, who sent a crossing pass to the right side of the goal to an all alone Mazzola, who easily tapped it into the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2.
The Cadets took their first lead of the game in the 76th minute with Lozito volleying a shot from the top of the 18 just under the crossbar to give Norwich a 3-2 lead. Ethan Melia (Shrewsbury, Mass.) threw the ball in from the side line and a JWU defender got a piece of the ball to try and clear it. However, it deflected right to the foot of Lozito and he buried the shot for his second goal of the game.
Johnson & Wales rallied however to find the equalizer with 1:07 left in the game as Christian Johnson beat NU goalkeeper Ryan Fitzpatrick (Milbury, Mass.) short side to the right post to knot the game up at 3-3.
Neither team could find the golden-goal winner in the two 10-minute overtime sessions and Norwich was left with their second straight draw to open the league schedule. The Cadets tied Emmanuel 2-2 last Saturday.
Norwich had lost four straight meetings vs. JWU coming into Saturday night's game. However, the Wildcats extended their unbeaten streak to six straight.
Fitzpatrick made four saves for Norwich and Mancini made three saves for JWU.
Norwich will travel to Castleton on Tuesday, Sept. 20 for a non-conference game at Spartan Stadium slated to start at 7 p.m.
