Men's Soccer (8-4-2, 1-3) Splits Pair of Contests, Drops Lone NEWMAC Match

The Wheaton College men's soccer team, which is ranked eighth in New England by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), split a pair of games for the third straight week, downing visiting Johnson & Wales University, 5-0 on Monday before dropping a 1-0 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) affair with Clark University on Saturday during Homecoming weekend. In the 11th season of the NEWMAC's existence, the Lyons have three league losses for the first time. With two conference contests remaining, Wheaton is sixth in the seven-team NEWMAC, as each squad qualifies for postseason play.

Against Johnson & Wales, sophomore Yuri Moreira (Marlboro, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) began the game with a natural hat trick, and classmate Josh Solomon (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxboro Regional) tied a school record with three assists for the second time this fall. Moreira scored in the fourth, eighth and 28th minutes, while sophomore Eric Driscoll (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and freshman Chris Thomas (Cumberland, ME/Phillips Academy) tallied 6:18 apart in the second half. Driscoll also added an assist, and classmate Jake Wagner (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) dished out two helpers. Sophomore Chris Smart (Brookfield, CT/Brookfield) made two saves for the team's first individual shutout of the fall, as the Lyons outshot the Wildcats, 21-4.

Wheaton earned advantages of 11-5 in shots and 6-1 in corner kicks, but Clark scored in the 24th minute for the lone goal of the contest. Smart made one save, while sophomore back David Ferriero (Medway, MA/Medway) cleared away another Cougar chance on their only second-half shot.

After Wheaton's freshmen, the Class of 2011, scored 28 of the team's 45 goals and recorded 34 of 50 assists last season, the class has played a role in 30 of 32 tallies thus far, with 25 goals and 28 assists. Solomon's 10 assists this fall are tied for fourth in program history, while Moreira's 10 goals leave him just two markers outside the single-season top 10. Solomon has 17 career helpers, one shy of the top 10.