NEW YORK –Freshman Natt Slober (Baltimore, MD/College of West Africa) scored two goals and senior goalkeeper Joseph Mendoza (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) made 14 saves leading Pratt Institute men's soccer to a 3-2 victory over Vaughn College Monday afternoon.
Following a Pratt free kick in the 70th minute, senior midfielder Luke Simmons (Portland, OR/Grant) scored his first goal of the season, receiving a beautiful feed from sophomore Juan Gomez (Pembroke Pines, FL/American Heritage) and firing it into the net from close range past Vaughn goalkeeper Hussein Saleh.
Slober scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season as the Cannoneers won their second straight game and improved to 4-1 in the first season since men's soccer returned as an intercollegiate offering. Vaughn fell to 3-5.
"With two games in three days, this weekend was a sign of how much we have truly progressed," said head coach Jonas Worth. "If you told me we'd be playing this well back in August, I would've given you a look of disbelief."
Pratt opened the scoring in the 25th minute when Mendoza directed a long punt nearly 70 yards down the field to Slober. The forward played the ball off his chest, blew by a Vaughn defender, and deftly slotted the ball past Saleh for a 1-0 lead.
Vaughn knotted the game right before halftime, scoring in the second minute of first-half stoppage time. Defender Abdullah Ali struck the ball from 35 yards out and neatly placed the ball into the top corner of the net past a outstretched Mendoza for his first goal of the season.
"I gave the lads a specific challenge before the game to stay mentally dialed in for 90 minutes and they responded with great intelligence," Worth added. "Everyone played a key role today, and in many ways, we actually played better than we did on Saturday."
With Vaughn garnering momentum heading in to halftime following Ali's late first-half goal, Pratt was back on its heels for much of the second half. After outshooting the Warriors 17-9 over the first 45:00, Vaughn applied significant pressure to the Cannoneers, outshooting Pratt 14-10 over the final 45:00. After making five saves in the first half, Mendoza swatted away nine Vaughn shots in the second to put his team in position to win.
"We owe a lot to our keeper, who had a massive game by any standards," Worth added. "But the battle on the field was won by every player and I only had positive things to say to them after the game."
Slober regained the lead for the Cannoneers in the 62nd minute. After receiving a pass from classmate Atilla Guzey (Istanbul, Turkey/Istek), the high-scoring forward nimbly avoided three Vaughn defenders and slotted the ball under a diving Saleh for his seventh goal of the season.
After Simmons' tally put the Cannoneers up two, Vaughn trimmed the deficit to one in the 71st minute when the Cannoneers were unable to clear the ball. The failed clear attempt fell to Vaughn's Denis Moschenko, who pushed the ball past Mendoza, but Vaughn was unable to get any closer.
Up Next: The Cannoneers return to Pennsylvania for a doubleheader with the University of Valley Forge on October 15. Women's soccer takes to the pitch first with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff and men's soccer follows at 3:00 p.m. It will be the final soccer doubleheader of the 2016 season and the season finale for men's soccer.
