Fourth-Seeded Framingham State Advances In 2010 MASCAC Men's Soccer Championships On Penalty Kicks Over Top-Seeded Westfield State
Framingham State rallied from a 3-1 deficit, scoring two goals in the final 18 minutes of regulation, and won the shootout, 4-2, to knock off top-seeded Westfield State University in the semifinals of the MASCAC Men's Soccer Championships on Wednesday evening at Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass.
Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information
WESTFIELD, Mass. – Framingham
State rallied from a 3-1 deficit, scoring two goals in the final 18
minutes of regulation, and won the shootout, 4-2, to knock off No.
1 seed Westfield State University in the semifinals of the
Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's
soccer tournament on Wednesday evening, Nov. 3.
No. 4 Framingham (11-8-1) advances to Saturday's championship game
at Salem State University. No. 3 seed Salem defeated No. 2 seed
Bridgewater, 2-1, in Wednesday's other semifinal game. Westfield
finishes its fine season with a 14-3-1 record and the MASCAC
regular season championship.
Framingham, which lost at home last Saturday to Westfield, 1-0,
trailed 3-1 after Westfield's Justin Laliberte
(Easthampton) scored in the 60th minute off a corner kick by
Jared Spicer (Carver).
But the Rams came storming back, scoring in the 73rd minute on a
perfectly placed header into the top left corner by Andrew Berte
(Malden) following a well placed cross from Chris Wilkins
(Heath/Mohawk Trail Regional).
The game-tying goal was a stunning unassisted tally by MASCAC
player of the year Jason Silva (Northbridge) with 5:15 remaining in
regulation. Silva took a shot near the far right end line that
appeared to be heading out of play. But his shot went just inside
the post and deflected off the hands of Owl goalie Jeff
Pepoli (Ashburnham) and into the upper right corner.
Westfield outshot Framingham, 20-11, in regulation, with five of
the Rams' shot on goal. But the Rams controlled play for much of
the two overtimes, outshooting Westfield 4-1. The Owls had a good
opportunity to end the game in the opening minutes of the first
overtime, but Tim Parsons (Buzzards Bay) shot in front
of the net flew high over the crossbar.
In the shootout, Framingham made all four of its attempts, with
Richie Greene (Haverhill) delivering the game-deciding boot.
Framingham goalie Greg Hale (Beverly) – who finished with
eight saves – rejected Kyle Yelin's (Southwick)
shot on the second attempt while Laliberte lifted a shot over the
crossbar on the fourth attempt.
The Owls took a quick 1-0 lead 3:05 into the game on a goal by
Josh Severns (Suffield), with an assist from Laliberte.
Westfield made the score 2-0 on a Yelin penalty kick in the 27th
minute.
Framingham made it 2-1 in the 56thz minute on an unassisted goal
from Romulo Carvalho (Milford), but the Owls regained their
two-goal edge less than four minutes later on Laliberte's goal.