North American team scores late goals to win Clericus Cup match

Published: 2007-03-26

ROME (CNS) -- The North American Martyrs scored two late goals to gain an important victory in Rome's Clericus Cup soccer tournament. The 3-1 win March 24 came against the Opus Dei-run Collegio Tiberino Sacerdotale, an international college for diocesan priests. It left the squad of the Pontifical North American College tied for second place in its division of eight teams. Sixteen teams made up of priests and seminarians in Rome are competing in the tournament, which ends in June. The Martyrs, playing on a slippery field in rain, took the lead early in the second half when Jaime Gil bounced the ball past the Tiberino goalie. Tiberino tied it up with a few minutes left in the game. Then the Martyrs turned on the offense: Gil launched a long pass to Daniel O'Mullane, who in midair angled it off his heel and into the net. A minute later O'Mullane scored again. Gil, a seminarian for the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, and O'Mullane, a seminarian for the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., are co-captains of the team and have combined for much of its offensive punch.

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