EMMITSBURG, Md. (October 5, 2022) – In a wild contest featuring the most combined goals in a match this season, Mount St. Mary’s defeated Saint Peter’s by a final of 4-3 during Wednesday’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) match at Waldron Family Stadium.
With the victory, the Mount improves to 6-4 (2-1 MAAC) on the season.
Four different Mountaineers scored, including three with their firsts for their Mount careers. Nathan Macek put in a header in the first half, with Kofi Amoah and Lans Bovenberg registering second half tallies. Leading scorer Ruben Kiers opened the scoring with his fourth of the year. True to form, his shot came off his head.
Goals factored in early and often throughout the match. Kiers’ shot occurred in the 11th minute in a set piece – a corner provided by Ian Buckwalter. After Saint Peter’s committed the first of three yellow cards, Bovenberg sent the ensuing free kick into the box where Gavin Watt stood waiting. His header on net fell to Macek, who backed up the captain’s header with a scoring shot.
Right before halftime, the Peacocks responded to increase the game’s intrigue. Daniel Blackmore received a ball from Reiss Skeen on the left side of the box, pushing it in to make it a 2-1 Mount lead at the break.
Undeterred, Mount St. Mary’s wasted little time in driving the lead back up to two. Ethan Glaser and Kiers found Amoah in the box, who used patience to wait out the defense to find an opening. When one came in sight, he didn’t hesitate, and the ball planted in the lower left corner for a 3-1 game.
Score number four came mere minutes later as Bovenberg received an opportunity for a header off a pass from Jesus Salazar. The conversion led to a seemingly comfortable advantage. For Salazar, the assist is his team-leading seventh for the year. Amoah also earned credit for an assist on the play.
The comfortable three score advantage lasted one minute. Mikkel Fodstad found the back of the net thanks to another assist from Skeen. The score marked the first time all season the Peacocks found the back of the net more than once.
Several corner kicks from Saint Peter’s did not amount to fruition and the game stayed at 4-2 for most of the contest. Tensions began to boil over as Ethan Russell continued to make saves and other chances went by the wayside. Two yellow cards were handed to the Peacocks before they made one last stitch effort on two more corner kicks. Those kicks yielded two shots – one got saved by Russell and the second went over the top.
The last tally of the night was an anticlimactic goal from Conlan Paventi, working through the defense to score with four ticks left on the clock.
With a goal and assist each, Kiers, Amoah and Bovenberg all ended the match with three points.
Remaining home this Saturday for a noon kickoff, the Mount battles Niagara for the first time since 1998.