Johnson State College men’s soccer won its first contest of the year by defeating conference foe, Lyndon State 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.  Johnson concludes the season at 1-14 overall, 1-8 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) while Lyndon dips to 0-12 overall and 0-6-1 in the NAC.

Johnson used goals from Josh King and senior Ryan Belen to capture the win.

King put the Badgers on the board in the 17th minute, when he found the back of the net off of a crisp pass from Noi Jones from the 20 yard line.  The Badgers used the momentum to dominate the next nine minutes of play. After a series of short passes through the mid-field, King lofted a ball to Belen who was waiting at the 6 yard line. Belen connected with the ball on a diving header much to the crowd’s pleasure.

The Badgers maintained their lead the rest of the game, controlling the pace of play and narrowly outshot the Hornets 23-22.
Johnson senior Sam Martin was credited with the win making four saves for the Badgers in 45:00 minutes of play. Sophomore Alex Pakatar started the second half making 10 crucial saves for the Badgers to keep them in the game.  Jason Marks stopped nine shots in the losing effort.

This match concludes both teams’ 2013 seasons.