Langley Breaks Assist Mark as No. 11/13 Garnet Top St. Marys 3-1
SWARTHMORE, Pa. – It was a record-breaking night for senior Morgan Langley, as he scored a goal and added an assist – the 18th of his career - to make him the all-time assists leader in program history as the No. 11/13 Swarthmore College men’s soccer team (5-0) thumped visiting St. Mary’s (Md.) 3-1 on Wednesday evening from Clothier Field Stadium.
Langley's passes Len Cuello for the all-time program lead.
Langley scored his fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick in 24th minute, while the record-breaking assist came just four minutes later in the 28th minute thanks to a goal from junior Fabian Castro. With the assist, Langley passes Len Cuello ’95 to become the program’s all-time leader.
Junior Pierre Dyer also added a first-half goal– the first of his career – off an assist from junior Henry Ainley, as the scorching Garnet offense overwhelmed the Seahawks from the get-go, finishing with 21 shots and 14 on goal.
The margin of victory for the Garnet may have been even greater if it wasn’t for the outstanding play of St. Mary’s (1-4-1) goalkeeper Paul Spranklin, who made 11 saves - including several spectacular all-out attempts to keep the Seahawks in the game.
After peppering the Seahawk defense with several great scoring opportunities in the first 20 minutes of action, the Garnet finally broke through with Langley's penalty kick - which was set up by a yellow card on SMC's Spranklin, who took down Langley in a one-on-one situation. Langley put the ball in the back of the net, giving the Garnet a 1-0 lead.
Just four minutes later, Castro, who had two earlier attempts stopped by Spranklin, got one past the keeper - thanks to the record-breaking set-up from Langley, quickly giving Swarthmore a 2-0 lead.
The Seahawks wasted little time sulking from the two-goal deficit however, as Brian Payne took a loose ball away from the Garnet defense in front of the goal and scored his team-leading third goal of the season in the 35th minute, cutting the Garnet lead in half at 2-1.
But just as quickly as St. Mary's got back into the contest, they were out of it thanks to the left foot of Dyer. Four minutes later in the 39th minute, Dyer took a back-heel pass from Ainley on the left wing and blasted home the first goal of this career from 20 yards out, giving Swarthmore a 3-1 lead that would last for the rest of the game.
Swarthmore head coach Eric Wagner – a former coach at St. Mary’s - picked up the 98th victory of his coaching career with the Garnet win.
Next up for the Garnet is one of the most anticipated match-ups in Division III soccer this season, as Swarthmore opens up Centennial Conference play against at No. 4/5 Johns Hopkins. Action begin in Baltimore at 4:00 p.m.