Lyndonville, VT - The Fisher Soccer teams are now a combined 2-0 after the first day of the season began this afternoon as the Women defeated Yeshiva University, 4-2 in New York, and the Men held off the Northern Vermont University-Johnson Badgers (0-1), 2-1 at the NVU Invitational. Sophomore Leonardo Mildor (Pompano Beach, FL) tallied his first goal of the season, while grad student Jonathan Collins (Southwick, MA) scored the eventual game winner in the 66th minute of the contest.
Neither team could get much offense going in the first half as the two teams combined for just six shots over the first 30 minutes of play, with each keeper notching just one save a piece. Mildor changed that when he knocked in a pass in front of the net from freshman forward Andree Molina (El Paso, TX) to put his team up 1-0 with less than seven minutes to play in the half. Each team fought hard over the next seven minutes to create an opportunity to score before the half, but the two teams would head to halftime with the visitors up 1-0.
The Falcons came out strong out of the break earning a corner kick and a great scoring chance on a Molina shot, but NVU's keeper Zach Blaser came up with the save to keep his team within one. The Badgers knotted the game at one goal a piece just minutes later when midfielder Aibek Allan Bijanov earned his first goal of the season, an unassisted goal that got by Falcons keeper Christopher Garcia (Rowland Heights, CA). In the 66th minute, Molina earned his second point of the game when he found Collins who netted his first goal of his Falcons career, making it a 2-1 contest. The Badgers had a handful of scoring opportunities over the last 20 minutes of play, adding four more shots, including two on goal, but the Falcons defense led by senior captain, Steven Jagba (Boston, MA) held on for the win.
NVU did outshoot Fisher, 12-10, in a very physical contest that saw 20 fouls called, but the Falcons outlasted the tough Badgers to start the season in the win column. Falcons keeper Garcia made five saves earning his first win of his junior campaign, while Blaser made four stops in net for the Badgers.
The NVU Invitational will continue on Saturday afternoon when NVU-Johnson will take on Vermont Tech at noon, with host NVU-Lyndon and Fisher to follow at 2:30pm. Catch the game live here.