Johnson Falls Short at NU 2-1

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Johnson State College men's soccer fell short at Norwich University on Tuesday by the score of 2-1 on Howard Field.  The Badgers drop to 0-2-1, 0-0 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) while Norwich moves to 3-2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

Sophomore Jake Leclaire (Henderson, Nev.) tallied his fifth goal of the season midway through the first half giving the Cadets the 1-0 lead they would hold going into the second half. Sophomore Mike Ravenelle (Merrimack, N.H.) and senior Roger Motaze (Cameroon) teamed up to assist Leclaire in his efforts against Badgers' goalie freshman Ryan Belen (Northvale, N.J.).

In the 60th minute of action the game tied itself up at one-all as the Norwich defense checked back into their half with momentum and misguided a cleared ball into the back of their own net. Motaze and Ravenelle teamed up less than five minutes later to take back the lead as Ravenelle found Motaze in front of the Badgers' net for the winning goal.

Freshman Alex Toomey (Anchorage, Alaska) held up the last line of defense earning four saves in 90 minutes of play. Belen made seven saves for the Badgers.  Norwich outshot Johnson State 20-7 on the day.

Johnson will next host a pair of non-conference foes this weekend with Paul Smith's College on Saturday and SUNY Environmental Sciences and Forestry on Sunday.  The Cadets will travel to Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday for a GNAC conference contest against Emerson College, kicking off at 3 p.m.