Box Score LYNDHURST, N.J. – Junior midfielder Maxi Ojeda (Yonkers, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) scored with three minutes, eight seconds, left in regulation time to lift Felician University to a 2-1 non-conference men's soccer victory over the visiting University of New Haven on Sunday afternoon at the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex. Felician (1-1) was playing in its 2017 home opener.
Ojeda tallied just 19 seconds after New Haven had tied the score. It was the game's only goal in the run of play.
Neither side was dangerous in a scoreless first half that saw the Golden Falcons accumulate an 8-2 shot advantage. The teams again had difficulty creating opportunities early in period two. But in the 61st minute, a Felician attacker was taken down on the left side of the penalty area. Sophomore Christopher McLaughlin (Hollis, N.Y./Preparatory Academy for Writers) converted the ensuing penalty kick to give the hosts their first lead of the season.
New Haven graduate student Brian Rabelo (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) started to create trouble for the Golden Falcon defense as time wound down, getting off two open shots. Still, Felician was fewer than four minutes away from the clean sheet, when a third shot from Rabelo, this one from the top of the box, caromed off of a defender's hand. The Chargers were awarded a penalty kick of their own, which Rabelo made with 3:27 to play.
Shortly after the ensuing kickoff, Ojeda, a transfer from ASA College, wrested the ball from a defender and found himself dribbling free down the left flank. His low diagonal shot caromed off the goalkeeper's hand and into the lower right corner of the net.
Felician finished the day with edges of 18-9 in shots and 8-3 in corner kicks. Senior John Burns (Saddle Brook, N.J./Saddle Brook) earned the victory in net with four saves. Stefano Lorusso (Auckland, New Zealand/Sacred Heart College) stopped six shots for the Chargers (0-2).
