Rutherford, Rivera Lead PSU Over USM 3-1

Ibrahim Mohamed scored the Huskies' goal in a 3-1 loss to Plymouth State

GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore Nick Rutherford (Sydney, Australia/Batesman Bay) and freshman Juan Rivera (Mt. Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane) each had a goal and an assist to lead the Plymouth State University Panthers to a 3-1 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference men's soccer game Saturday afternoon at Hannaford Field.

 

With the win, Plymouth State remains undefeated in the Little East at 2-0-1 and improves its overall record to 4-3-1. Southern Maine falls to 1-7-1 with the loss and 0-4-1 in the LEC.

PSU struck early grabbing a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.  Rivera ran onto a well-played through ball
from Rutherford.  The Panthers held the 1-0 advantage until the 26th minute when the Huskies' pulled even on a fantastic strike from sophomore Ibrahim Mohamed (Lewiston, Maine).  With the ball cleared out of the box, Mohamed launched a powerful strike from 35-yards out hitting the upper corner of the frame. The score remained one all through the half.

Both teams battled through a scoreless 20 minutes in the second half, until junior Jesper Fredholm (Stockholm, Sweden/Tyreso Gymnasium) hustled onto a Rivera deflected shot in the box for the game-winner in the 76th minute.  Plymouth State sealed the victory late in the game making it 3-1 in the 90th minute as Rutherford broke free.  Freshman Viktor Nilsson (Stockholm, Sweden/Saltsjobaden) lofted a ball over the top of the Huskies' defense freeing Rutherford who timed his run well to set up the goal with led than 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

Junior goalkeeper Felix Lindeberg (Stockholm, Sweden/Tyreso Gymnasium) earned the shutout for the Panthers making a pair of saves.  Huskies' freshman Simon Hulbert (Bar Harbor, Maine/Mt. Desert Island) played well in net making six saves in loss.

Southern Maine travels to Bowdoin on Tuesday (4:00 p.m.) in a non-conference game.  Plymouth State hosts Western Connecticut in a Little East Conference match up on Saturday (1:00 p.m.).