Fairfield, CT - In a year full of impressive victories and program records, Manhattan ultimately fell just short of a postseason berth as the Jaspers dropped a 1-0 decision to Fairfield at Lessing Field on Wednesday evening.
The Green and White end their 2018 season with a program record 12 wins to go along with six losses and went 5-5 in conference play. Fairfield wins the MAAC regular season championship for a second consecutive season, going undefeated at 8-0-2 and 11-4-2 overall.
The lone goal in the match came with just under two minutes to go until halftime. The Stags' Cormac Pike found open space in the left corner and crossed it into the box, where Joseph Meyer headed it in past Jasper netminder Marcellin Gohier (Nantes, France / CENS) on the left side to make it 1-0.
Manhattan desperately sought the equalizer with four chances in the final five minutes of regulation, but came up empty each time.
Manhattan will turn its attention to the 2018 MAAC Postseason Awards Show to see if any Jaspers garnered postseason honors and then look forward to the 2019 season. The program will see seniors Lucas Da Silva, Troy Carrington, Connor Hayes, Ryan Shields, Jean-Baptiste Tamas-Leloup and Eduardo Avalos graduate ahead of next year.
SEASON QUICK HITS
- The Jaspers set program records in wins (12), non-conference winning percentage (.875) and shutouts (9).
- Gohier became the program's all-time leader in shutouts, capping his junior year with 13 clean sheets while also picking up 47 saves, bringing his career total to 97.
- Manhattan staged its biggest upset in program history, defeating #25 Fordham 1-0 at Gaelic Park for its first victory against a ranked opponent.
- As a team, Manhattan was ranked in the United Soccer Coaches East Region Poll for seven consecutive weeks, the longest streak in program history. Additionally, the team received votes in the USC Top 25 National Poll for the first time following the victory over the Rams.
- College Soccer News put the Jaspers 30th in the nation in its Top 30 National Poll for the week ending September 23.
- Gohier and junior defender Adrien Awana (Bordeaux, France / University of Bordeaux) teamed up to collect three MAAC Defensive Player of the Week awards on the season.
- Sophomore forwards Brandon Joseph-Buadi (Brighton, England / Woodard) and Berti Fourrier (Marseille, France / IFC Marseille) led the team with 13 points, with the former tops on the squad with five goals and the latter with five assists.
- Junior forward Noah Amissah (London, England / Orleans Park) joined Joseph-Buadi, Fourrier and Awana to register at least four goals on the year.
- Three different keepers, which include Gohier, Hayes and sophomore Micheal Kennedy (Yonkers, NY / Fordham Prep), earned a win and a shutout on the season.
- Manhattan recorded 10+ shots for the 17th time this season, generating 12 against the Stags' defense.
- Fourrier was the top Jasper with three shots. He, along with Amissah and Awana, got shots on goal.
- The Jaspers outranked Fairfield in corner kicks 7-5.
- Gohier made four saves in net. Kennedy, coming on to start the second half, had two of his own.
- Fairfield's Marcus Nordgard got behind the defense in the eighth minute, but freshman defender Simon Busch (Duisburg, Germany / Theodor-Fliedner Gymnasium) caught up to him and changed the trajectory of his shot.
- Gohier made two athletic saves to begin his evening in the 10th minute, punching out a Jonathan Filipe shot from 20 yards out, then poking a Nordgard header above the crossbar.
- Fourrier ignited Manhattan's first shot, turning in the right corner of the 18-yard box and firing it wide right in the 14th minute.
- In the 22nd minute, Amissah drew a foul close to the 18-yard box, and Awana launched a free kick from the left side right on net, coercing a Gordon Botterill save.
- Two minutes later, Awana was shown a red card after a hard challenge on a streaking play from a Stag, forcing Manhattan to play with 10 men the rest of the match.
- In the 33rd minute, the Jaspers worked the ball in the Fairfield zone. Freshman midfielder Thomas Hitchins (Raleigh, NC / Wakefield) got open to blast a ball wide left.
- In the 53rd minute, Hitchins recovered a loose ball in the middle following a missed cross attempt and laced a frozen rope wide left of the net.
- Moments later, freshman midfielder James Cotter (Wigan, England / Hawkley Hall) inserted a corner kick and Busch directed a seven-yard header just over the goal.
- In back-to-back plays beginning in the 59th minute, Kennedy slid to deny Santiago Gonzalez from the right side and then corral a floating Don-Junior Bobe header by the left post two minutes later.
- In a mad scramble in the 86th minute, Amissah just flicked a ball on net that Botterill kept out. Less than 30 seconds afterwards, Da Silva had an opportunity blocked and Carrington couldn't connect on a loose ball inside the penalty box.
- With less than a minute remaining, Manhattan earned a free kick from 20 yards out in the left alley. Fourrier booted the ball towards Botterill, who initially mishandled it, but he scooped it up before a pair of Jaspers caught up to it.