Westfield State goalie Keith Hevey soars near the crossbar for a save vs. Wiliams. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
WESTFIELD — Mohommed Rashid made quite an entrance, one that allowed Mike Russo to reach quite a milestone. First-year striker Rashid scored two second-half goals yesterday, lifting the Williams College men’s soccer team to a 2-1 come-from-behind road win over Westfield State in its season opener. It also gave Russo — in the first game of his 34th season at the helm of the Ephs’ program — his 400th career victory.
“I didn’t know that,” Russo said of his accomplishment. “But you know me, it’s about the boys, not about me.”
Russo is now 400-101-54 (.769 winning pecentage) in his tenure. The Ephs have posted 29 consecutive winning seasons. In 27 of those 33 campaigns Russo’s booters have won at least 10 games in a regular season that contains but 14 contests.
After a first half that saw Williams outshoot the Owls but fall behind 1-0, the Ephs picked up their play on the turf.
“In the first half we overpossessed the ball instead of going forward,” said Russo, who remarked after the game that Westfield State is a very good team. “In the second half our transition game was a bit better, we were able to play more quickly, which is what you have to do on a turf field.”
The Ephs gained the equalizer in the 58th minute whem Chirs Seitz was able to control a ball in the right corner and work the ball into the box. Rashid, making a nice post run onto the ball, flicked it past Owl keeper Keith Hevey.
In the 83rd minute, Eph senior Patrick Ebobisse played a through ball that Rashid ran onto behind the Westfield backs and netted the game-winner.
“(Rashid) had a great game, he was the man of the match obviously,” said Russo, who is a four-time National Coach of the Year. “Overall, it being our first game with just five practice days beforehand and against a team that had been out awhile, we’ll take it.”
The Ephs outshot their hosts, 27-7, and compiled eight corners to the Owls’ none.
Westfield State took a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute on a beautifully executed play just outside the box, with freshman Kevin Bengle of West Springfield scoring off perfect interior passes from Mike Stackhouse and Jon Principato.
“I saw some good things out there today,” said Westfield first-year head coach John Evans. “We competed very well with an excellent team in Williams.”
