BUZZARDS BAY, Mass -- The first "Battle for Pirate Supremacy" of the 2021-2022 season took place Tuesday evening on Taylor's Point as men's soccer hosted UMass Dartmouth. The Corsairs took a very early lead but foe the second time in as many game, the Buccaneers won in comeback fashion, 2-1.

The Basics

Final: Maritime 2, UMass Dartmouth 1

Records: Maritime 3-7 (2-1 MASCAC)

            UMass Dartmouth 5-3-1 (2-1 LEC)

For The Bucs

• Ben Cook (Fort Myers, FL) scored his 10th career goal in the 31st minute.
• McNeill Somers (Boston, MA) scored his team leading third goal of the season in the 47th minute, the eventual game winner.
• Nicholas Vanti (East Longmeadow, MA) recorded his first career assist on the Cook goal from a corner.
• Goalkeeper John Murphy (Braintree, MA) recorded his third win of the season in goal with five saves on six shots.

For The Corsairs

• Will Cochran scored the goal for the visitors in the first minute of the game.
• Lucas Passaro assisted on the Cochran goal.
• Jacob Castro made seven saves on nine shots while allowing the two Maritime strikes in goal.

How It Happened

The air was taken out of the Buccaneers sail very early in the game. With 56 seconds gone off the clock the Corsairs found the back of the net. Passaro delivered a ball in to the box, with Murphy rushing out, that landed right on the foot of Cochran and he put it in the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead. The Buccaneer defense tightened the reins and kept the Corsair attack back and they attempted to loft balls over the top in an attempt to get back in the game. In the 31st minute the Bucs earned a corner that Vanti delivered nearly perfectly in to the boc right on to the head of Cook who headed the ball in to the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1, filling the Buccaneers sails once again. The team's played out the last 14 minutes of the half and went in to the break tied.

The second half started much like the first, with a team scoring. This time the Bucs were the fortunate ones. On a Maritime attack right off the kickoff, Jesus Sanchez (Dodge City, KS) delivered a ball in to the box that was turned away but only to the foot of Somers on the edge of the box. McNeill proceeded to fire a shot in to the back of the net togive the Buccaneers a 2-1 lead. It was an exciting second half with each team getting off nine shots, the teams totaling nine corners and both goalkeepers stood on their head. The Buccaneer attack kept attacking and the defense continued to defend, holding off a very good Corsairs team. The clock hit triple zeros and the Bucs walked off the field with their second straight come from behind 2-1 victory. 

What's Next

the Buccaneers will host Westfield State in MASCAC play on Friday at 7pm. The Bucs will enter the game 2-1 in conference while Westfield will enter 0-3 in the MASCAC.