Plymouth, N.H. – The Plymouth State men’s soccer team, riding a two game winning streak, looked to keep their momentum going as they hosted the team from the University of Southern Maine in Little East Conference play.
The game was slow at the start, as both teams did not even manage to get a shot off for about the first 16 minutes of play. Plymouth State’s best scoring chance came late in the half when senior Parker Spear (Sodus Point, N.Y) fed the ball to junior Jacob Sjoberg (Linkoping, Sweden) who was able to get a shot off that looked good, but it hit the left post and was quickly corralled by the USM keeper.
The Panthers came more aggressive in the second half and start to apply the pressure to USM, as they were able to out-shoot them by a 8-3 margin. With a few minutes remaining in the game, it looked as if this game was destined to go to overtime, as both teams seemed to be equally matched. After PSU a corner kick with about 5:00 remaining in the game went wide, freshman Petro Masumbuko (Manchester, N.H) was able to run it down and fed the ball back to in front of the USM goal and right to junior Adam Groves (Brooksville, Maine). Groves, who played the last two seasons for USM and only recently transferred to PSU, was able to header off the crossbar and across the goal for his first goal of the season, and the game winner.
Plymouth State plays again this Monday (10/8) when they travel to Nichols College in a non- conference matchup.