Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – An Eastern Connecticut state University men's soccer team which had scored as many as three goals in a match only once this year equalled that number in a span of 20 minutes in the second half as the Warriors snapped an eight-game winless streak with a 3-2 non-conference victory over Fisher College Wednesday evening on Senior Night at Rick McCarthy Field.

The teams each scored once in the first 60 minutes, then combined for three goals in less than four minutes in the final 15 minutes.

Eastern (2-6-3) first-year forward Elliot Melgar (New York, NY) came off the bench to tie the match, 1-1, 15 minutes into the second half, then gave Eastern its first lead, 2-1, 20 minutes later with his third goal of the season with a blast inside the left post with 14 minutes left in the game.

Fisher (4-5-2) tied the match, 2-2, with 12 minutes left on sophomore Tim Schwarz's fourth goal of the year , but the Warriors answered less than two minutes later when sophomore defender Noah Page (Stafford Springs) – who played a career-high 82 minutes -- gave Eastern its first home win in four outings with his third goal of the season, beating Fisher senior keeper Eduardo Navarro from a blast at the top of the box with 10:30 left. Page's winning goal came on the third shot of a sequence after Navarro made a diving stop to his right before the Warriors followed up with a shot wide of the right post.

Making his fourth career appearance off the bench, first-year keeper Jack Harmon (Manasquan, NJ) made five saves in the second half to record his first college win in relief of senior Nathan Yeich (Willington), who departed at halftime with the Warriors trailing, 1-0. Harmon's best save came with 3:50 left and preserved the 3-2 lead when he timed his leap perfectly and sent Schwarz' blast from the top of the box over the crossbar.

After Fisher sophomore Leonardo DiBiase had given his team a 1-0 lead with 19 minutes left in the first half, Eastern had four prime opportunities to tie the match in a span of six minutes, with sophomore Reid Dowling (East Lyme) taking a feed from Melgar and hitting the left post from a shot from the left side. With four minutes left in the first half, Yeich made sure the deficit remained at one goal when he came off his line to break up a Fisher bid, beating an opposing player to the ball.

The one-goal win is the third in as many years for Eastern over Fisher and follows a 1-0 victory backstopped by Yeich ithe last time the teams met at Eastern in 2022. The Falcons had won two and tied one of their previous three matches this year.

The teams combined for 39 shots – 23 in the second half -- with Eastern collecting 18 or more for the fourth time this year.

Lex Edwards (Milford), a defender, and midfielder Niall O'Brien (Guilford) played all 90 minutes for Eastern, which allowed only the tying goal by Schwarz over the final 64 minutes, with junior forward Caiden Hettrick-Rivera (Portland) and Melgar sparked the offense, both coming off the bench. The pair put five of their combined six shots on net.

Sophomore midfielder Sebastian Kadlof (Clinton) and senior midfielder Sean Cafferty (Clinton) each assisted on Melgar's first goal, with Hettrick-Rivera recording his first point of the season when his pass found Melgar, who rifled in his second goal of the match and third of the season to give Eastern its 2-1 lead in the 76^th minute.

DiBiase and Schwarz combined on 13 of Fisher's 21 shots, putting six on net and each scoring their one goal. Navarro matched Harmon with five saves.

Eastern hosts Western Connecticut State University Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.