Men's Soccer Tops Salem on Senior Day

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State men's soccer clinched the #2 seed in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament with a 3-1 win over Salem State at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the regular season.

Westfield moves to 7-6-5 overall and 4-1-2 in the MASCAC with the win.  Salem is now 5-7-5 and 2-3-2 in the league.

The MASCAC will formally announce the tournament's seedings and matchups later today at www.MASCAC.org.    Westfield will host a semifinal round game on Friday, with opponent and time still TBD.

Westfield got on the scoreboard first with Ryan Viana (Framingham, Mass.) heading home a tremendous serve from Dominic Cirelli (Springfield, Mass./Central) in the ninth minute of play.

Salem equalized before the half with Vanilton Xavier (Brockton, Mass.) getting a pass slid across the box from Jonathan Diaz (Methuen, Mass.), and Xavier beat Owls goalkeeper Luke Theroux (Chicopee, Mass.) on the right side to force a 1-1 tie at the half.

Westfield got what proved to be the game winner in the 61^st minute, with Sonny Mazza (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) touching a short pass to Aidan Ferguson (Augsburg, Germany) in the penalty area for Ferguson to bury.    Westfield's Coleby Andrade (Falmouth, Mass.) started the sequence with a shot that was saved but not controlled by the Vikings to set up the scramble in the penalty area.

The Owls tacked on an insurance goal in the 84^th minute, as Ethan Margolis (Wakefield, Mass.) ran on to a through ball from Andrade and found the net from a sharp angle on the right side to give Westfield a 3-1 lead.

Salem got a couple of good scoring chances late, as Diaz fired a hard shot from the top of the 18 that Theroux saved, and Theroux made another stop on a shot from Matheus Pelissari (Lowell, Mass./Chelmsford) in the closing seconds to help preserve the win.

Theroux finished with eight saves for the Owls, while Salem's Marcelo Silva (Marlborough, Mass.) made three saves.

The match was relatively evenly played throughout, with Salem holding a 13-11 edge in total shots, and had three corner kicks to Westfield's 1, but the Owls made the most of their chances throughout the day.

Westfield State celebrated the careers of their five seniors before the game, recognizing senior captains Andrade, Jacoby Authier (Holyoke, Mass.), and Josh Wietecha (Chicopee, Mass./Comp) along with Matthew Elmasian (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug) and Edwin Zaruma-Buri (Northampton, Mass.) before the match.