BELMONT, Mass. - Middlesex traveled to Belmont Hill on an idyllic fall afternoon for one of the most thrilling matchups of the ISL season to date.

The visitors appeared to have settled into the game well in the first few minutes, but a long throw in the sixth minute was cleared to the top of the box for a low strike towards goal by the excellent Dean Lundquist. The 'worm-burner' fell straight to the feet of striker Tiernan Emmert, who calmly took a first touch and slotted home from the top of the six for the early 1-0 lead. 

Just eight minutes later, Belmont Hill played a curled ball from the middle to the left flank for a foul just outside the penalty area. Lundquist stepped up and deposited the free kick into the near side to double the lead at 2-0 in just 14 minutes.

Middlesex made some immediate system changes that resulted in an immediate response. Within only four minutes, Long Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) had managed to bury two close range scrums to level the score at 2-2. 

The next 15 minutes balanced out, but Middlesex started to apply more pressure in the last ten minutes of the first half. The improbable breakthrough for Middlesex came in the 42nd minute, as Adriano Valmora (Montreal, Quebec) clipped a perfect ball onto the leaping Matt Oh (Cresskill, N.J.), who flicked the ball past the keeper and into the net for the 3-2 lead.

The second half saw Belmont Hill throw Lundquist forward and push the midfielders into ever-more dangerous attacking positions. The onslaught was met by the stout defending of Will McCarthy (Concord, Mass.), Chris De Morais (Wakefield, Mass.), Theo Moore (Louisville, Ky.), and Max Garofalo (Dracut, Mass.), along with keeper Noah Browne (Kingston, Jamaica), who was excellent in dealing with the barrage of long throw-ins throughout the match. Middlesex held on, despite Belmont Hill being awarded a penalty for a mesmerizing run by Max Christiano with three minutes left, but the PK was sent wide of the post. 

It was a spirited, high-level match contested by two teams that left everything out on the field. The outstanding players for Belmont Hill were Lundquist, Christiano, and Houghton. For Middlesex, McCarthy, Nguyen, and Oh made the most vital plays on the day. It was a representative performance for a highly competitive league.