Box Score JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A furious second-half comeback attempt was thwarted by Canisius to help the Golden Griffins came away with a 2-1 victory in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's soccer action on Saturday.
After Canisius (6-8-1, 3-5-1 MAAC) scored twice in a span of seven minutes and 16 seconds in the first half, the Peacocks (7-6-1, 4-4-0 MAAC) mounted a comeback attempt in the final 25 minutes of the match.
Louis Mobbs (Hull, England/Sydney Smith) notched his sixth goal of the season off a serve from Andrew Romero (Garfield, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) from 20-yards out to trim the margin to 2-1 at the 76:53 mark. Saint Peter's then had seven scoring chances the rest of the way, but Andrew Coughlin came up big for Canisius with four saves in that span.
Saint Peter's two best chances to knot the match came in the final 10 minutes. Jack Pounce (Little Chafont, England/Dr. Challoner's Grammar) had a shot that nicked the crossbar at 80:39 and his rebound shot then went high. Coughlin staved off two great opportunities when he made a diving save off the foot of Rodrigo DaSilva (Woodbridge, N.J./Woodbridge) and then turned away the rebound opportunity from Wilber Nunez (Paterson, N.J./Saint Benedicts) while trying to recover from DaSilva's shot. Mobbs also had two chances stopped by the netminder and DaSilva had a shot blocked by the Canisius defense in this stretch.
Chris Berardi assisted both of the Golden Griffins' tallies on the afternoon while Alex De Carolis and Thomas Tuepen were the beneficiaries of Bernardi's passes to find the back of the net. Coughlin made sevens in the winning effort.
Canisius scored twice in the first 30 minutes of the match and then staved off a furious shot barrage from Saint Peter's in the final 25 minutes to earn the victory.
Berardi served the ball into the box on a corner kick and found the head of Tuepen at the 22:09 mark for a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes and 18 seconds later Berardi used another head to find the netting when he passed the ball to De Carolis, who found the twine for a two-goal lead at the 29:27 mark.
The game remained that way until Romero had a nice serve and found Mobbs' head in the 77th minute to trim the margin to 2-1. The Peacocks had several chances to even the match, but powered by Coughlin the Golden Griffins held on for the victory.
Mobbs now has six goals on the year after posting five tallies in his first two seasons at Saint Peter's. The junior is tied for the team-lead with six markers and third in points with 12. Romero notched his first career assist after recording his first collegiate goal in the season opener against Massachusetts on Aug. 31. Jamie Cleland (Dunfermine, Scotland/Woodmill) made three saves in the loss.
After starting the year 5-0-1 at Jaroschak Field, Saint Peter's has lost its last two matches in Jersey City.
The Peacocks return to action on Wednesday at Fairfield in the final road match of the year. Game time is 7 p.m.
