Men's Soccer begins MASCAC play with 3-1 win over Worcester State

North Adams, MA- The MCLA Men's Soccer team opened up the MASCAC slate with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Worcester State Lancers this afternoon at Shewcraft Field.  The Trailblazers receieved goals from three different players as they moved to 4-2 on the season and are now 1-0 in the conference.  Worcester State falls to 1-5-1 and 0-1 in the MASCAC.

The physical contest saw the Trailblazers strike in the 23rd minute on a beautiful goal from leading scorer Dylan Pereira.  After earning a corner kick, Edward Boateng played the ball quickly to Tyler Vona on the left wing.  Vona would send the ball into the box and Pereira headed it past Lancer keeper Tim Schmidt for a 1-0 advantage.

The score would remain that way into the second half.  MCLA would continue to be aggresive and in the 60th minute, Nolan Burke knocked home a nice through pass from Anthony Basile to increase the lead to 2-0.  The marker was the first of the season for Burke.

The Trailblazers appeared to be in cruise control when Oscar Castro got out in front of the WSU defense and easily chipped the ball past Schmidt for an insurmountable 3-0 lead with just eight minutes left.  

The Lancers, however, would answer immediately as Alec Ostrowski hammered home a loose ball in front of the net in the 84th minute to bring WSU to within 3-1.   MCLA would settle down and then easily run out the clock to secure the win.

Matt Robinson stopped five shots to earn the win for MCLA.  Schmidt collected four saves in defeat.

For the match, MCLA owned a 16-10 shot advantage and a slim 5-4 lead in corners.  

The physical contest saw 35 fouls and 5 cautions.

The Trailblazers are back in action on Tuesday when they host Skidmore.