Men's Soccer falls late to Fitchburg State in MASCAC matchup 2-1

Fitchburg, MA- The MCLA Men's Soccer team tied the game in the 84th minute only to have host Fitchburg State net the game winner just a minute later as the Falcons earned a hard fought 2-1 win over the Trailblazers in a key MASCAC matchup.  The game was played under tough conditions as torrential rains flooded parts of the field.

The Falcons improve to 4-10-1 on the season but more importantly keep their playoff hopes alive as they sit at 2-4 in the MASCAC.  MCLA drops to 7-6-1 overall and is now 3-2-1 in the conference.

The Falcons took the lead into halftime as they finally converted in the 40th minute.  Matthew Krikorian scored an unassisted goal to give the Falcons the lead.  The first half was evenly played as each side mustered up five shots apiece.

The hosts looked poised to keep the lead and take the win until the Trailblazers finally generated some offense.  With a set piece off of a free kick, Anthony Basile would net the equalizer in the 84th minute.  Ryan Wanek would take the free kick and it was deflected off the wall and made its way to the foot of Basile.  His one timer beat Fitchburg's Alex Al-Zaibak knotting the score at 1-1.

The Falcons would respond just 1:40 later when Nolin Brassard would corral a ball just outside the 18 and rip a bending ball into the upper right corner for a 2-1 advantage.  It was Brassard's first goal of the season.  MCLA would get off another shot in the final minute but it was blocked and the Falcons preserved the win.

Al-Zaibak earned the win stopping two shots for the Falcons who owned a 10-7 shot edge over MCLA.

Kamron Anderson collected three saves in defeat for MCLA.

The Trailblazes will host a non conference matchup on Tuesday when they challenge Albertus Magnus at 5pm.