SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine—The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) men's soccer team cruised to its first Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) victory, defeating the Knights from Vermont Technical College (VTC) by a seven-goal margin 9-2 on Sunday, Sept. 8.
First-year Mohamed Matan (Lewiston, Maine) was the first to jump into the scoresheet with two goals in less than a minute span. First-year Blake Collins (Calais, Maine) rounded out the first half scoring for the home team before the Knights cut their deficit with a goal delivered by Ryan Bellandese in the 30th minute.
The SeaWolves rattled off five unanswered in the second—Matan completing the hat trick, and the rest from four different contributors, Keto Tchiputo (Portland, Maine), Yaroslav Philbrook (Chernigov, Ukraine), Hussein Hassan, and Caryle Boyle (Brunswick, Maine). Bellandese scored his second of the game for the Knights at 83:34 before first-year Nathan Tshibemba (Kinshasa, Congo DR) added one of his own before time expired.
Sophomore Camden Labrecque (Saco, Maine) conceded two goals on five shots on goal to secure the win.
In a post-game interview, Head Coach Brian Dougher stated, "After playing a bit leisurely in the first half, I was happy to see our guys separate themselves in the second and put away six. This group is talented offensively, with so many different ways to be dangerous."
The SeaWolves improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in league play; VTC drops to 1-3 overall, 0-2 YSCC.
View the photo gallery of the game HERE.
The action continues when SMCC makes their way to rival Central Maine Community College on Wednesday, Sept. 11 for another YSCC showdown under the lights beginning at 6 p.m.
For the latest on SMCC's athletic programs, log onto GoSMCCSeawolves.com or follow Southern Maine Community College Athletics on Twitter @SMCCseawolves and on Facebook SMCC Seawolves.
