COLCHESTER, Vt. – Sophomore Alessandro Pappalardo (Rome, Italy/Stamford) struck from 25-yards out in the 103rd minute to give the University of New Haven men's soccer team its second-straight victory with a 3-2 decision over the Saint Michael's Purple Knights. Pappalardo led New Haven (4-10-2, 4-6-2 NE10) with three points on the day as he also assisted on the opening goal of the game.  

The game-winner for the sophomore midfielder came just 25 seconds after sophomore Justin Dansereau (Billerica, Mass./Central Catholic) scooped up his eighth save of the day and started the attack as Pappalardo sprinted the length of the field to propel the Chargers to victory. Also scoring on the day for the Chargers was junior Nate Peduzzi (Old Lyme, Conn./Lyme-Old Lyme) and senior Pablo Perez-Gomez (Medellin, Columbia/West Haven). The goal for Pappalardo was his team-leading fifth of the season, while the eight saves for Dansereau was a career-high.

In the opening half, the two keepers were called into action on a pair of occasions with New Haven looking to score right out of the gates on a shot by Peduzzi that the Purple Knights keeper, Leland Gazo, was able to corral. The Chargers kept the pressure on in the early going with two more shots in the first 5:30 of the completion, with the final one in the series blocked by the Saint Michael's defense.

It would be more than five minutes before the Purple Knights could get a shot off with the first one of the day for Saint Michael's, a header attempt that was blocked by the Chargers defense. New Haven would have its next opportunity come in the 17th minute when a shot off the boot of Perez-Gomez was once again corralled by Gazo.

Chargers keeper Justin Dansereau (Billerica, Mass./Central Catholic) wasn't called into action until the 20th minute when his first stop of the day came on a header attempt from Saint Michael's Brady Channell. Just over eight minutes later, Dansereau would come through again when he faced nearly the exact same attempt from Channell, this one being the first of back-to-back shot attempts from the Purple Knights, the second of which went high.

With just over five minutes to play in the half, New Haven looked to strike again on a pair of set plays, but came up empty on the back-to-back corner kicks. Saint Michael's would also have one final attempt before the half came to a close, but the shot from Kieran Owen was wide left.

The scoreless draw through the first 45 minutes was broke by New Haven early in the second half when Peduzzi net his third goal of the season. Thanks to a cross from the left side from Pappalardo, Peduzzi was able to strike with a shot to the right side of the net, which was left vulnerable by the Purple Knights keeper.

The Chargers looked to add to that tally less than three minutes later when Pappalardo struck a shot that Gazo was able to save. Saint Michael's answered with a rebound attempt on the opposite end just second later and added two more shots before finally breaking through in the 72nd minute when another header attempt by Channell broke the plane of the end line after deflecting off of a defender. The play began on a free kick that was served in from Kyle Brady.

The Chargers weren't going to let up, retaking the lead 101 seconds later when Perez-Gomes stole the ball, turned and fired a shot into the left side of the net for the 2-1 advantage. The goal for Perez-Gomez was his third of the season.

Just over five minutes later, the Purple Knights began a flurry of shots with a header attempt by Jacob von Giebel that went wide right. That began a series of four shots, the last three of which all came within less than 60 seconds of each other and the last one scoring the equalizer for Saint Michael's. That game-tying goal came early in the 82nd minute when Channell net his second tally of the afternoon on a rebound off an earlier shot by Justin D'Orlando.

In the first overtime period, the Chargers opened up on the attack with three shots in the first five minutes of action. Pappalardo provided the first attempt with his blocked by a defender, while a shot from Estanislao Desseno (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Saint Patrick College) resulted in the fourth save of the day for Gazo. The final shot in that rally came from Alvaro Ezpeleta (Vigo, Spain/Colegio Amor de Dios) but sailed wide left.

Defensively, New Haven held Saint Michael's without a shot in the first extra period, while the best scoring opportunity for the Chargers came with just under two minutes remaining. Ezpeleta fired a shot that was saved off the line by a defender but set up a corner kick opportunity.

In the second overtime, the Purple Knights opened the period on the attack, striking the first shot just over two minutes in as Dansereau came up with the stop. The Chargers turned on their attack showing off their transition speed as Pappalardo fired from distance and curled the shot over the head of the Purple Knights keeper.

The Chargers will close out their regular season schedule on Friday night when they travel to the capital of New York, Albany, for a 7:00 p.m. start against the Saint Rose Golden Knights. For fans unable to attend the game, live stats and live video links will be available at NewHavenChargers.com.