South Portland, ME – The CMCC men's soccer team survived a rough and tumble battle with archrivals Southern Maine Community College, finishing off a season sweep of the Seawolves with a 2-0 win. The match saw 12 cards handed out by the referee with the Mustangs having a player sent off with a half hour left to play.
Central Maine struggled in the early going against an SMCC team that was prepared to dig in and staunchly defend their half of the field. The visitors settled for long range efforts that were off target, and took a while to get into their usual fluid passing game. That finally showed up in the 35th minute when CMCC took a 1-0 lead with their first shot on target of the match.
Stefan Samba headed the ball down to Mitch Cameron at the midfield circle. He found David Nzuzi on the right side, who backheeled a return pass through the legs of Cameron to Ivan Domingues. Ivan played a one-touch ball to the top of the box for Cameron who had continued his run, and the Englishman did the rest, chopping the ball back to his left foot before curling a dipping shot under the diving frame of goalkeeper Mohammed Turki.
It was the third goal of the season, and third in the last five matches for the midfielder out of Knutsford Academy.
The Mustangs' frustration with the tight marking showed in the box score at halftime. The squad had racked up 12 fouls in the first 45 minutes and had center back Raimundo Lubota shown a yellow card. He was joined in the referee's book by Ahmed Al Mshakheel and Jeannot Ndayishimiye for the Seawolves.
That was just a taste of what was to come in the second half. Alfie Bashford, Mikel Soto, Massimo Di Pilato, Mitch Cameron, and Stephan Samba all picked up cautions in the second half, with three more SMCC players joining them.
However, there was some more joy for CMCC shortly after the restart. Jeremiah Gomez was the beneficiary of more delightful passing from Nzuzi and Ivan. The winger from Angola crossed the ball low for Domingues who laid it off at the top of the box for Gomez. One left-footed shot later the it was nestled in the side netting past substitute goalkeeper Ian Allen.
The seventh goal of the campaign for the attacking midfielder out of Old Orchard Beach made it 2-0 in the 49th minute.
The hosts were given hope for a comeback with half an hour left to play when the card color changed for the first time in the match. Igor Domingues was guilty of making a dangerous sliding challenge on the goalkeeper with his studs exposed. The referee judged him to have made contact with his leg and showed Igor a straight red card to reduce the Mustangs to 10 men.
SMCC put eight shots on target in the second half, forcing goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland into his most action of the season. But the transfer from Bridgewater College was up to the task finishing the day with 12 saves to preserve the 2-0 shutout victory.
CMCC committed the majority of the fouls in a very physical match, being whistled for 23 of the 35 total. The 12 cards shown was the most in a match involving the Mustangs this season and now has them with one more total card than their opponents through 14 games.
The win was the fourth straight for the Mustangs over the rival Seawolves and their first on the road at the Wainwright Sports Complex since the wild 2022 YSCC Tournament semifinal that ended 7-5.
CMCC improves to 12-1-1 on the year and remains a perfect 8-0 in conference play headed into its final regular season contest on the road against NHTI. The Mustangs face the Lynx on Monday, October 21st at 3:15 pm.
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