Somerville, MA - The Emerson College Lions (5-6, 3-3 GNAC) used a four-goal effort by sophomore Eric Dabdoub (Monterrey, Mexico) to hand the Suffolk University Rams (4-4-2, 1-1-2 GNAC) their first loss in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday by a 5-3 margin.
Dabdoub scored his first goal of the game, coming in the 26th minute of play connecting on a header in front of the net off of a free kick from sophomore Ken Nikrevesh (Geneva, Switzerland). Dabdoub added his second goal of the first half scoring on a 50-yard pass from junior Sean Batson (Boulder, CO) with eight minutes remaining in the first half.
The Lions would go up 3-0 in the second half as Dabdoub struck again for the hat trick as he put home the rebound off of a shot from senior Zach Sayward (Franklin, MA) that bounced off the crossbar and in front of the net as Dabdoub was left alone waiting.
Suffolk would not go quietly answering nearly three minutes later as sophomore Danny Lloyd (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) scored his first of two goals on the day on a takeaway deep inside the Emerson zone.
Dabdoub was not done scoring either as he notched his fourth goal of the day scoring ten minutes later as he beat Rams' goalkeeper Jack DeJesus (Swampscott, MA) five yards out for what would turn out to be the eventual game-winner.
The Rams added two more goals in the final ten minutes of play as senior Nick Celia (Hanson, MA) scored his third tally of the season off a long pass from senior Arman Palian (Belmont, MA). Lloyd put home his team leading ninth goal of the season with thirty seconds remaining in regulation as he scored on a brilliant shot in the upper left hand corner of the net off of a free kick.
Lions' sophomore Cory Walls (Scituate, MA) scored his first goal of the season with two minutes remaining in the game as he broke away past the Rams' defense to score Emerson's fifth goal of the day.
Emerson outshot the Rams 18-10 as Lions' goalkeeper Nick Strauss (Norwood, MA) only needed to make two saves for his fourth win of the season. The game got somewhat physical as six yellow cards were issued in the contest.
Both teams will continue their conference schedule this week as Emerson hosts Johnson & Wales University on Columbus Day at noon at Rotch Field, while the Rams will visit Emmanuel College on Tuesday evening at 7:00pm.