POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Looking to rebound after a tough road trip, the Vassar men's soccer team bounced back on senior day with a solid 2-0 win over the visiting Statesmen on Saturday afternoon. Seniors Tyler Gilmore (Coronado, CA), Desmond Curran (McLean, VA), Toby Stansell (Seattle, WA) and Tim Collins (Arlington, VA) were the four seniors honored before the game. Mattie Mrlik (San Francisco, CA) scored the opener while Nathan Logan (San Francisco, CA) picked up his first career-goal.
With the win, Vassar moves to 9-4 overall and 5-2 in Liberty League play, while Hobart slips to 6-6-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the conference.
Midfield play was strong from the start in an evenly contest match. Vassar almost scored the opening goal when Andrew Goldsmith (Princeton, NJ) found Henrik Olsson (Tokyo, Japan) up the middle. Olsson split the Statesmen defense, but couldn't connect with the shot.
The Statesmen had a few early opportunities after a pair of August Martini corner kicks, but Hobart failed to connect. Martini attempted the first shot on goal, but Will Marment (Stamford, CT) was able to make the save. Kevin Baliat (Edoret, Kenya) fired a shot at the 24th minute, but put a little too much on it as it sailed wide left. Vassar outshot Hobart 6-2 in the half as the game went scoreless into the second stanza.
Martini fired another shot on goal in the opening minutes, but Marment was there again for the stop. Momentum began to swing at the 61st minute when Logan found fellow San Francisco native Mrlik with a perfect cross from the right side. Mrilk seized the opportunity and picked up his third goal of the season.
Teams traded shots following the goal, with Hobart keeping the Vassar defense in check, but a Statesmen misplay proved to be costly. Logan made the clean tackle for the ball and broke past the Hobart backline. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Logan launched the shot into the right post for his first-career goal with 15 seconds remaining.
In goal, Marment recorded three saves and picks up his sixth shutout of the year, while Hobart's Alec Kaminer had two. The teams were tied 11-11 with total shots, but Hobart had the 7-2 corner advantage.
Vassar returns for their final home game against RPI on Oct. 24 at 3:30 p.m. Following that game, the Brewers wrap up the regular season on Oct. 27 at Ithaca.
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