COLCHESTER, Vt. - Junior Mikel Penin's (Bergara, Basque Country/Ipintza Institutua/Spring Hill) 45th-minute strike vaulted the Saint Michael's College men's soccer team past Northeast-10 Conference counterpart American International College, 1-0, on Saturday at Duffy Field. The victory was the 90th of head coach Wade Jean's Saint Michael's career, tying Les Johnson's school record.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-6-1, 3-5 NE10), AIC (0-8-4, 0-4-3 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Mikel Penin (Bergara, Basque Country/Ipintza Institutua/Spring Hill), 1 goal
• Sophomore Aliou Cisse (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca), 1 assist
• Junior Garrett Smith (Gorham, Maine/Bridgton Academy/Bryant), 5 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Lucas Morales-Fernandez, 4 saves

GAME FACTS

• Penin, who had been limited to only one appearance since Sept. 7, scored his fourth goal in 18 games as a Purple Knight; each has been a game-winner. Five of his seven career college goals have gone as winners.
• The Purple Knights defeated AIC for the first time since Oct. 10, 2015.
• Jean already holds the longest head coaching tenure in program history, now in his 15th season (2006-07, 2012-now). His 90th win matches Johnson, who coached between 1983 and 1996. The record-breaking 91st victory would be Jean's 200th as a college head coach.
• Smith's seven wins are the most by a Purple Knight keeper since Nicco Roque '15 posted nine in 2014.
• Saint Michael's held leads in shots (18-9) and corner kicks (5-2).
• Seven of AIC's eight losses have come by a single goal.

THE ACTION

• In the 19th minute, senior Amos Schramm (Sagard, Mecklenburg-Pomerania, Germany/Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium) sent a through ball for junior Muntasir Ahmed (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy/West Virginia Wesleyan), whose point-blank bid hit Morales-Fernandez in the hands.
• Schramm nearly scored directly on a corner kick in the 21st minute, but his curling shot toward the far upper corner was headed off the line by first-year Axel Sundberg.
• Junior Thomas Lafayette got behind the Saint Michael's back line in the 27th minute but pushed a point-blank opportunity high.
• In the waning moments of the opening half, Cisse's through ball up the seam split a pair of AIC defenders and found Penin, who finished into the lower left corner of the net with 13 seconds to go.
• The pace picked up in the final 10 minutes of regulation, first as Schramm's shot from the top of the box was denied by a diving Morales-Fernandez in the 84th minute.
• First-year Pietro Botasso headed a teammate's free kick toward the net and over a pursuing Smith in the 87th minute, but junior back Drew Kull (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) headed the ball out of danger for a team save.
• Junior Leonard Riby-Williams took a pass over the top just seconds later but sent his header directly toward Smith.
• The netminder made one more denial with 44 seconds to go, turning away first-year Leo Consoloni's attempt from the corner of the box that arrived at the left post.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday vs. University of Maine-Fort Kent, 4 p.m.
• The Bengals are ranked eighth in the latest United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division I national poll.