EAST BOSTON – Suffolk men's soccer saw its season-opening win streak come to an end Wednesday night as city rival Emmanuel topped the Rams, 2-1, at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Emmanuel 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-1-0) | Emmanuel (2-0-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk started the scoring in in the 16th minute. Matteo Simonini coasted down the left sideline, crossed the ball in and it carried over the box towards the out of bounds line. Tommy Handelsman hustled and kept the ball in on the dive. He brought in back into the Lions' box dished it to Carter Van Buskirk, who right-footed it for the game opener. 

Ten minutes later, Alec Erskine dribbled the rock down the right side of the right and slipped a pass to Joey Soucy, who picked up the pieces and drilled it into the twine to level the playing field at one apiece. 

Things remained deadlocked until there was less than four minutes to play before intermission. A Suffolk foul set-up an Emmanuel free-kick at the 25-yard line. Erskine made it look easy as he lofted it over the wall of Rams' defender and past Xander Balog's glove to send the Saints into the locker room up, 2-1.  

Suffolk had a prime opportunity to get the goal back and even things up once more. In the 66th minute off a corner kick by Van Buskirk, Brady Sorensen took the initial shot that was turned aside from Vincent Conelli right at Matteo Simonini. Simonini fired the rebound back, but once again Conelli had an answer to keep the Rams in a one-goal, 2-1, hole.  

With just over six minutes remaining on the clock Suffolk saw another chance. This time Handelsman crossed a ball to Miguel Varela at Conelli's right. Varela used his cleat to gather the pass, which drew Conelli out. As the netminder came out, Varela put an attempt high, but a jumping save by Conelli held the score were it was. 

At the other end, the Saints looked to add insurance. This time it was Balog who would fall to the turf to gobble up the shot, preserving the distance.  

Time was not in Suffolk's favor and as it ticked off the clock each Rams try got further and further wide, which allowed Emmanuel to take the game as the final buzzer sounded.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Balog had seven stops in the setback. 
• Conelli contributed 11 saves for the Saints. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Van Buskirk scored Suffolk's lone goal. 
• Handelsman handed out the Rams assist. 
• Suffolk had the upper hand in shots, 22-14, and shots on target, 12-9.
• The Rams had more corner chances, 7-4.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk moved to 11-8-1 all-time against Emmanuel. 
• The Rams are not 6-5-0 when hosting the Saints. 
• Van Buskirk stretched his point streak to three games.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is back in Eastie Saturday, Sept. 10 for its Suicide Awareness Game against Emerson at 3 p.m.