Freshmen Shine in Men's Soccer 2-1 Non-Conference Win over Worcester State

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Freshmen Neil Williams and Tyler Clark recorded their first collegiate points on Tuesday to lead the Western New England men's soccer team to a 2-1 non-conference victory over visiting Worcester State at Suprenant Field, extending the Golden Bears' home unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1). Western New England improves to 9-3-1 overall while the Lancers from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference drop to 4-3-4 on the season.

Neil and his older brother, Ryan, connected on the first scoring play to put WNE up 1-0 in the 12th minute. Ryan Williams, a senior, took a flick-on from classmate Jake Bartnik near midfield and dribbled down the left wing before cutting to his right to elude a pair of WSU defenders; then he slid a nice diagonal pass at the top of the penalty area to Neil Williams, who buried his first career collegiate goal.

"We played a very strong first half and controlled the tempo of the game and the possession battle from the outset. These have been major points of emphasis in training and our team has made great strides in these two areas," said Western New England coach Erin Sullivan. "Our front six created many quality scoring chances and we benefited from what proved to be two very important goals from freshmen midfielders."

Clark followed in Neil Williams' footsteps with his first collegiate points by giving the Golden Bears a 2-0 advantage in the 31st minute. He was assisted by junior defender Chris Bruton.

Western New England used a commanding 11-2 shots advantage to go into the intermission up 2-0. The Golden Bears finished with a 17-9 lead in shots.

Worcester State's first solid scoring came in the 26th minute when Derek Kareta received a pass by Brendan Whitson from the right wing and rifled a shot directly at WNE goalkeeper senior co-captain Domenick Villano.

Whitson cut WNE's lead in half during the 59th minute when he scored his third goal of the season, unassisted, by stealing the ball from a WNE defender and beat Villano to his right.

Both goalkeepers--Tim Schmidt for WSU and Villano for WNE--made three saves.

Both teams had more scoring chances in the second half. Villano stopped Whitson in the 47th minute and denied another point-blank opportunity for Kareta 8 minutes later. Western New England's best looks came less than a minute apart late in the contest as Clark went high just over the crossbar and senior co-captain Kevin Parma was turned back by Schmidt.

"Worcester State deserves credit for getting stronger as the match progressed and keeping us under pressure in the second half. They showed why they have yet to be shut out this season in scoring an opportunistic goal off a series of mistakes," Sullivan said. "As always, our ability to balance risk and reward in our decisions on the ball is one of the most important aspects of preventing scoring chances and closing out matches. In today's game, we learned an important lesson in that regard and, despite coming away with the victory, we move forward with a focus on solidifying our play in the latter stages of games."

Western New England is back in action at 11 a.m. Saturday when Wentworth invades Suprenant Field for a Commonwealth Coast Conference match-up.