Men’s Soccer Beats MCLA 1-0; Earn #3 Seed in MASCAC Tournament

North Adams, MA- The Framingham State men's soccer team used a late goal to beat MCLA 1-0 in a pivotal MASCAC matchup Saturday afternoon in North Adams.

With the win, the Rams (8-10, 4-3 MASCAC) are going to be the third seed in next week's MASCAC Championships and host Fitchburg State on Tuesday.  MCLA (8-7-1, 3-3-1 MASCAC) will be in the tournament and will either be the fourth or fifth seed depending on tonight's result between Bridgewater State and Worcester State.

The Trailblazers and Rams hooked up in a physical battle that saw 27 fouls and 9 cards handed out.  MCLA had some great chances to score in the opening half, but hit the post, the crossbar, and forced a Ram defender to clear a ball off the line.  However after 45 minutes of play, it was scoreless.

Not much had changed in the second half until the Rams finally broke through in the 82nd minute. FSU's Johance Liverpool (Brockton, Mass.) lofted a long pass that Gerardo Ramirez (Burlington, Mass.) beat the MCLA defense too.  Trailblazer keeper Kamron Anderson attempted to come off the line to stop him, however Ramirez lofted a soft shot over the head of Anderson giving the Rams the 1-0 edge.  It was his second goal of the season.

MCLA mounted a few shots over the final eight minutes, however Josh Arno (Natick, Mass.) was outstanding all afternoon and kept the shutout intact.  Arno collected 9 saves on the afternoon including many from close range to earn the win.

Anderson stopped four shots in defeat for the Trailblazers.

MCLA owned a slim 22-19 shot advantage on the afternoon over the Rams and each side had six corner kicks.

Prior to the contest, MCLA honored their ten seniors playing their final regular season game at Shewcraft field: Sakan Sadowsky, Anthony Basile, Dylan Pereira, Ed Boateng, Jesse Moore, Nolan Burke, Rodger Coryell, Andrew Haier, Kwadwo Kusi, and Patrick Mahoney.

*Release courtesy of MCLA sports information