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Posted: Nov 08, 2008

Men's Soccer Captures MASCAC Tournament Championship

Men's Soccer Captures MASCAC Tournament Championship
Box Score

Framingham, MA - The top-seed Framingham State College men's soccer team captured their first ever Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament Championship today at home on Maple Street Field with a 2-1 victory over the second-seed Salem State Vikings.  With the victory, the defending MASCAC regular season champion Rams (16-3-1) receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament with pairings to be announced Monday morning.  Despite the loss, the Vikings (14-4-1) are still alive for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In a closely contested first half, both teams had their opportunities to score.  Framingham State sophomore midfielder Scott Faria's (Fall River, MA) header off a cross from Jared Curry (Westboro, MA) went just wide in the 18th minute and junior forward Andrew Angus's (Boston, MA) open shot was saved by Rams goalie Greg Halle (Beverly, MA) in the 20th minute.

The Rams were finally able to capitalize on a scoring chance in the 42nd minute as Faria launched a corner kick into the box that junior defender Sean Austin (Winchester, MA) headed in for his second goal of the season.  The Rams would take the 1-0 lead into the break.

The Rams maintained their lead in the second half and even extended it to two goals despite being outshot by the Vikings 13-6 in the frame.  Halle, who finished the day with nine saves, had five stops in the second half.  In the 70th minute sophomore forward Jason Silva scored his MASCAC leading 14th goal of the season to make the score 2-0. 

The Vikings picked up their offensive pressure in the final twenty minutes of the game and cut the Rams lead to one goal in the 86th minute as freshman forward Ali Kaba (Marblehead, MA) corralled a corner kick from Carlos DeOliveira (Peabody, MA) and fired a shot into the back of the net.  The Vikings had a chance to tie the game with 3:43 remaining as Angus had a  clean look at the net but his shot hit the post and the Rams were able to clear the ball and hang on in the closing minutes to pick up the win.