BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's soccer team clinched a spot in the Region 19 playoffs with a 2-1 victory over Middlesex College on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Field, improving to 4-1-1 in their last six games.
Despite dominating possession in the first half, the Spartans found themselves trailing 1-0 at halftime. Northampton continued to put pressure on the Blue Colts defense, led by the play of
Hatungimana Salem (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty ), and finally broke through at the 60 minute mark when
Sohaib Aglaguel (Casablanca, Morocco/Moulay Idriss) found the back of the net off an assist from
Christian Reyes (Allentown, PA/Dieruff), to tie the contest at 1-1.
Northampton continued to dominate play, but could not get the go-ahead goal as the Middlesex defense held strong throughout the second half.
The Spartans received a corner kick with 3 minutes remaining and
Gabe Lawler (Bangor, PA/Bangor ) served up a perfect ball that
Matthew Bayda (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) deposited into the goal for what proved to be the game winner.
"What a great game," remarked Head Coach
Mario Barrantes, "just a tremendous all-around effort today in all phases of the game. The guys knew the importance of this game and were not going to be denied."
The Spartans, now 6-4-1 overall and 5-4-1 in Region 19, will host Salem Community College on Tuesday at 3:30pm in their final regular season match.
Middlesex falls to 6-7-2 overall with the loss.
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