WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven men's soccer team scored three goals in the first 23 minutes of action and never looked back, defeating Nyack College 3-0 to improve to 2-1 on the season. Leading the way for the Chargers was senior striker
Nate Peduzzi (Old Lyme, Conn./Lyme-Old Lyme) who scored a pair of goals to increase his team lead for the season to three tallies.
In addition to Peduzzi's two goals, sophomore midfielder
JP Viruet (Seymour, Conn./Seymour) tallied a goal while four different players all picked up an assist on the night;
Frantz Innocent Jr. (East Hartford, Conn./Connecticut IB Academy),
Alvaro Ezpeleta (Vigo, Spain/Colegio Amor de Dios),
Estanislao Desseno (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Saint Patrick College) and
Brian Silhan (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore).
In goal, senior
Stefano Lorusso (Auckland, New Zealand/Sacred Heart College) picked the up seventh clean sheet of his career as he closed out the night stopping four shots. Overall, Nyack sent 10 shots in but only four were registered on goal. Also among the defensive highlights on the night was Innocent, Jr. who had a spectacular sliding save on a shot second half that helped protect the Blue and Gold's first shutout of the season.
Peduzzi opened up the scoring for New Haven just inside of the eight minute of action. After Desseno sent a corner kick into the box that was cleared out, the Chargers regained possession, getting the back to the outside to Desseno. He would then fire a cross to the top of the six-yard box where Peduzzi drilled a mid-air boot to the lower left corner, past the outstretched reach of the Nyack keeper.
Just shy of six minutes later, Viruet would add the first insurance goal when he connected with Ezpeleta. After restarting with a free kick on the opposite side of midfield, the Chargers worked deep into the zone down for left side where Ezpeleta fired a cross into the box. Viruet, streaking in down the middle of the box found the cross just off the goal line and drilled it to home for the score.
Peduzzi would strike again nine minutes later thanks to a pair of helpers from Innocent, Jr. and Silhan. After clearing back to the defensive line, Silhan drilled a deep ball into the opposite corner where Innocent, Jr. one-touch crossed to the middle of the six-yard box for Peduzzi to easily finish off on the far side as the keeper was trying to recover from the cross.
New Haven will close out its season-opening four-game home stand on Saturday night when they host American International for the Northeast-10 opener. The second-straight game under the lights at Kathy Zolad Stadium is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. opening kickoff.
