Men’s Soccer Suffers Setback at Springfield

Springfield, Mass.- The Framingham State men's soccer team fell in a hard-fought, physical match,  4-1 to Springfield College in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon at Brock-Affleck Field.

Springfield College, which was ranked No. 5 in this afternoon's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division III Men's Soccer Regional Rankings, improves to 10-0-1 with the win, while the Rams fall to 4-6 on the year.

In between the pipes, sophomore goalkeeper Stewart Frank (Pittsford, N.Y.) got the start, while senior goalkeeper Zach Richard (Millbury, Mass.) came on in the second half and made one stop to preserve the win. For the Rams, freshman Corey Davidge (Blackstone, Mass.) played 61:12 and made four stops, while Dennis Siaw (Leominster, Mass.) came on for the final 28:48 and made three saves.

Springfield College held a 22-5 shot advantage on the day, including a 15-2 margin in the second half, while also holding an 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. Freshman Dexter Tenn (South Windsor, Conn.) had a career-best four points on the afternoon, including a goal and two assists, while senior forward Luke Alvaro (Chicopee, Mass.) scored his New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC)-leading 14th goal of the year, while also assisting on the first goal of the game. Alvaro has now scored in 10 of 11 games this season.

The Pride got on the board just 8:27 into the contest when Alvaro played a through ball to Tenn inside the box, who took on a defender and chipped a pass back to Brad Deckel (Lansdale, Pa.), who fired a shot into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0, Pride.

Just 4:05 later, Framingham State pulled even when Jeff Braverman (Framingham, Mass.) sent a pass in behind the Springfield College back line, which was caught up to by Simon Appiah (Worcester, Mass.), who tucked a shot past Frank to even the score at one apiece.

After back-and-forth aggressive play from both sides, Springfield College regained its one-goal lead when Danny Murphy (Old Saybrook, Conn.) found Tim Wood (Derry, N.H.) in the deep corner, who dribbled past a Rams defender, before sending a ball into the box, that squeaked onto the foot of Cam Powell (Housatonic, Mass.), who buried his chance to make it 2-1, Pride, with 3:02 to play in the first half. 

Just 6:44 into the second half, Tenn found the back of the net when he ripped a shot from the top of the box that was blocked by a Framingham State defender, but the freshman collected his own rebound and tucked a shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net to make it 3-1, Springfield College.

The Pride pushed its lead to three just 7:50 later when Curtis Bolduc (South Windsor, Conn.) sent a long pass into the Rams' defensive territory, that was headed through Framingham State's backline by Tenn, and caught up to by Alvaro, who found the back of the net to put Springfield College up 4-1, sealing the win.

Up next, Springfield College will travel to WPI for a critical NEWMAC contest on Saturday, October 8 at 5 p.m. The Rams travel to Westfield State for a MASCAC matchup on the same day.

*Release courtesy of Springfield College media relations