COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's soccer team lost to the University of Maine-Fort Kent, 2-1, on Senior Day on Saturday at Duffy Field. The Bengals were eighth in the latest United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division I national poll.
 
Prior to the contest, seniors Ian Boudreau (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury), Jake Manley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington), Alessandro Pescina (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela/Colegio Loyola Gumilla), Sawyer Pierpont (Salisbury, Vt./Bridgton Academy), Tyler Santaniello (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) and Amos Schramm (Sagard, Mecklenburg-Pomerania, Germany/Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium) were all honored.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-7-1), Maine-Fort Kent (4-1-5)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Muntasir Ahmed (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy/West Virginia Wesleyan), 1 goal
• Senior Jake Manley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington), 1 assist
• Senior Alessandro Pescina (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela/Colegio Loyola Gumilla), 1 assist
• Senior Ian Boudreau (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury), 4 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Rohane Brown, 1 goal, 1 assist
• Senior Ajay Chin, 1 goal
• Sophomore Romeo Daniels, 3 saves

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's held a 9-2 lead in corner kicks, while Maine-Fort Kent claimed a 15-10 edge in shots.
• The teams are now 1-1 in their all-time series, with both contests going as 2-1 finals. Saint Michael's won in overtime in 2021 in their initial meeting.
• The Purple Knights head into their regular-season finale on Wednesday tied with Saint Anselm College for the seventh and final Northeast-10 Conference Championship postseason spot. Saint Michael's needs more points - with the potential of three for a win or one for a tie - than the Hawks earn that evening at Southern New Hampshire University in order to claim its first tournament berth in nine years.

THE ACTION

• In his first year wearing Purple and Gold, Ahmed scored his first goal as a Purple Knight in the 10th minute, splitting the defense under Manley's through ball and slipping a shot inside the right post.
• Chin countered only 4:04 later, in the 14th minute, taking Brown's pass over the Saint Michael's back line and scoring from the left side of the box.
• Brown put the Bengals in front in the 34th minute, blasting home a loose ball from the top of the box.
• Junior Xolo Miralles (Vinaròs, Spain/IES Leopoldo Querol/Otero) curled a free kick just wide of the far post in the 56th minute.
• Boudreau kept it a one-goal game with stops on junior Michael German in the 58th and 65th minutes, diving to deny the former.
• In the 87th minute, first-year Bennett Clark (Calais, Vt./U-32) nearly leveled the teams, heading on junior Drew Kull's (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) long throw-in, but Daniels batted away the bid as it neared the upper left corner of the net. On the ensuing corner kick, Ahmed headed a shot wide of the right post.
• Saint Michael's earned two corners in the 89th minute but was unable to garner any shots.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday vs. regionally-ranked Bentley University, 7 p.m.
• The Falcons were 10th in this week's United Soccer Coaches East Region poll.