MANSFIELD, CT -- After a week away on the road, Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer (5-3-0, LEC 2-0-0) returned home for a Little East Conference rivalry match versus Southern Maine (4-3-1, LEC 0-2-0) at Rick McCarthy Field on Saturday afternoon. Leading the way for the Warriors was junior defender Larson Richards (Mansfield) who scored two goals in the second half en route to a 4-0 victory for Eastern.
 
    The Warriors would come out fast and furious versus the Huskies in the offensive zone, but Southern Maine's interior defense would hold strong as Eastern continuously looked for the open man on cross passes in front of the net. The best chance would come in the 22^nd minute when a turnover by the Huskies led to senior midfielder Will Toomey (Willington) turning up field and finding first-year forward Logan Brennan (Farmington) in front of the net. After his shot was turned away by junior goalkeeper Jacob Statires, Toomey found himself with a golden opportunity to score on a pass from senior defender David Noel (Armonk, NY), who made his first career start at forward and played 79 minutes, but a spectacular diving save by Statires kept the Warriors scoreless.
           
    In the 34^th minute, Richards threatened to get his first goal of the match off a pass from junior forward Ryan Sirois (Tolland), but his one-time in front of the net was swallowed up by Statires. However, less than 10 minutes later junior forward Eddy Vargas (Norwalk) would locate the Central Connecticut State University transfer leaping in the air on his corner kick which made its way past Statires to put the Warriors up 1-0 heading into the half.
 
    Eastern emerged in the second half hungry to pull away from the Huskies and Richards wasted no time making his presence felt in the final 45 minutes. When junior midfielder Andres Mayuri (West Hartford) took his first corner kick of the afternoon in the 46^th minute, he found Richards in the box who attempted to score on another header but was denied this time by Statires. After a back and forth battle between both teams in the neutral zone, three Warrior players threatened to extend Eastern's lead.

    It started in the 68^th minute when senior defender Emmanuel Agyemang (East Hartford) looked for his first goal of the season on a breakaway down the middle of the field but Statires was there again to neutral the opportunity. It was then Noel and first-year forward Elijah French's (Tallahasee, FL) turns in the 70^th minute to try and break through Statires. Both forwards took shots in succession of one another and were turned away again by Statires on a pair of diving saves.
 
    But the Warriors would finally break down the brick wall that was Statires in the 74^th minute when Vargas fired a shot towards the net that was blocked by Southern Maine's defense and found French on the right side on the goal who put it behind Statires and gave Eastern the 2-0 advantage. Only a few minutes later, Richards would record his second goal of the game in the 79^th minute when Mayuri's corner kick landed on his foot in front of a defender. The Mansfield native found his way around the defender and placed the ball in the left side of the net to extend the Warrior lead to three.
 
    Less than a minute later, it was Mayuri's turn to score as a pass from Richards on the defensive side of the field made its way over to Agyemang in the offensive zone. Agyemang accelerated deep into the Huskies defense before making a touch pass to Mayuri who lifted the ball over the head of the diving Southern Maine goalie to put Eastern ahead 4-0 which would be the score when the final horn sounded at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
    Jacob Statires finished the match with 14 saves on 18 shots on goal as the Warriors accumulated a total of 30 shots at the junior during the course of the game.
 
    Sophomore goalkeeper Dylan Pallanck (Willington) played 81 minutes in net before first-year goalkeeper Nathan Yeich (Willington) played the final 9 minutes of the match with neither goalkeeper facing a shot on goal from Southern Maine.
 
    Larson Richards recorded two goals, one assist, six total shots, and three shots on goal in 84 minutes played. Richards played the most minutes for the Warriors on the afternoon and has now scored three goals in the last three games.
 
    Eastern will head on the road again to face in-state rival and Little East Conference foe Western Connecticut State University in a conference matchup at Westside Athletic Complex in Danbury at 6:00 PM on Wednesday. The two teams last met in the 2019 Little East Conference semifinals on a cold night at Rick McCarthy Field in November when they beat the Colonials 5-0.