Auburn, ME – The Central Maine men's soccer team battled its way to a 2-2 stalemate against the University of New England on Thursday night in Auburn. Jeremiah Gomez and Raimundo Lubota scored one goal each for the Mustangs who wrapped up back-to-back games against NCAA D3 opponents.
CM moves to (0-0-1) in their first countable game of the season after coming from behind for a 4-2 win vs Maine Maritime Academy on Wednesday in exhibition play.
"We haven't played together too long, and haven't had a whole lot of practices yet, so to get a win and a draw against two talented teams is a good start to the season," said head coach Dalton Wing. "The whole point of scheduling D3 teams in state is to play at a high level, and I believe we can compete with any team in the state."
The Mustangs came storming out of the gates, creating chances and venturing deep into UNE's half. But no sooner had they forced the second save of the night from Nor'easters goalkeeper Tristan O'Hagan in the 19th minute, then the ball was quickly back towards their penalty area.
That's when disaster struck. A miscommunication saw a pass back go beyond starting goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland, and off the post and in to make it 1-0 UNE. For the second straight game, Central Maine was behind.
This time though, the Mustangs would only need to wait until the 23rd minute to get on the scoreboard themselves. Ivan Domingues played Jeremiah Gomez through into the penalty area. The sophomore from Old Orchard Beach, ME weaved his way around UNE captain Sam Higgins before blasting a left-footed strike low past O'Hagan to make it 1-1.
The Nor'easters would score once more before the break to take a 2-1 lead at halftime. Austin Morin slid a through ball into the box for Ronan Donaghey. The linesman's flag stayed down and Donaghey poked a shot past the legs of Cleaveland with the defense expecting an offside call that never came.
Both teams continued to make plenty of substitutions as expected in an early season contest. One player in for CM to start the second half was center back Raimundo Lubota.
In the 51st minute the defender found himself in the opposite penalty area during a scramble off a free kick from Gomez. Lubota pulled the ball back away from substitute goalkeeper Sean McCarthy before smacking it into the open net.
The big defender out of Lewiston High School is known more for preventing goals than creating them, but presciently told teammate David Nzuzi he had a feeling he would score before being subbed in at halftime.
"I told my teammate when I get on the field, I'm going to score," said Lubota. "We've been working for this. We played last night, we were a little bit tired. But it's not a bad start for us."
Lubota's goal would prove to be the final of the match. Things did pick up physically down the stretch with both teams in search of a winner. Instead of a goal, four players ended up in the referee's book with Gomez, Alfie Bashford, and Igor Domingues receiving yellow cards for Central Maine, and Matthew DeSimone picking one up for UNE.
Next up, the men's soccer team heads on the road for the first time in 2024, when they travel to Waterville, ME to take on Thomas College on Friday, August 30th.
