Auburn, ME – Brothers Ivan Domingues and Igor Domingues both found the back of the net twice in a 4-2 win for men's soccer over rivals SMCC on Thursday night. The non-conference victory moves the Mustangs to 6-1-1 on the season.
CMCC found itself on the back foot early in the match with a sluggish start. The Seawolves punished them with a quick counter in the 15th minute. Kaden Pillsbury set up Jil-Emmanuel Sehr on the left side of the penalty area. The junior out of Fryeburg Academy bent a one-time shot low towards the near post just out of reach of the right hand of goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland.
Central Maine looked like it may head into halftime down 1-0. That is, until a cross into the box from Jeremiah Gomez skipped away from SMCC goalkeeper Mohammed Turki. The Portland, ME native attempted to punch clear on the edge of the box, but took down Ivan Domingues in the process, with referee Chris Girardin awarding a penalty kick. Ivan laced it low into the back of the net to even things at 1-1.
The halftime break seemed to snap the Mustangs out of their funk, and after the restart, it took only 47 seconds for Ivan to put his side in front. Brother Igor Domingues chipped a ball from the left towards the penalty box where Ivan met it with his left foot, volleying home for a 2-1 advantage. That brought Ivan's goal total on the season to nine tallies in eight games.
Ten minutes later, it was Igor's turn to score, with the junior tallying twice in two minutes. First, David Nzuzi delivered a low corner to Gomez who clipped the ball to the back post. Igor simply had to redirect the ball into the net to make it a two-goal advantage in the 56th minute. For his next act, Igor picked up a headed clearance on the edge of the area and after dribbling past a defender, curled a left footed shot that beat Turki at his near post for a 4-1 Mustangs lead.
SMCC would not go quietly into the night however. With under 18 minutes to play, Chandrel Laza latched onto a through ball and outran the CMCC back line before tucking a shot around Cleaveland. The Seawolves were unable to find a scoring touch in the later stages of the match though, as the Mustangs held on for the win.
It was a physical game, with Mustangs captain Alfie Bashford picking up a red card for a DOGSO tackle on Laza with 15 minutes left. Three Seawolves, Carlos Rodriguez Cruz, Ahmed Al Mshakheel, and Chandrel Laza received yellow cards, with head coach Noah Riskind going in the referee's book as well. The two sides meet again for their YSCC game on October 17th in South Portland.
Up next for CMCC, the Mustangs host Paul Smith's College on Sunday, September 22nd for a YSCC match-up. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
