Salem State Hands Men's Soccer First MASCAC Loss

Salem, Mass. – Salem State University Vikings' goalkeeper Luis Marques (Fall River, Mass.) held back the high-powered offense of the Framingham State University Rams in a Vikings' 4-1 victory at Alumni Field Saturday afternoon.

The Salem State defense held Framingham State – the conference leader in shots – to only four shots on goal. 

Luis Marques turned away three of four shots and earned a victory for his efforts in net. 

The Vikings, who improve to 4-3-2 on the season, are in first place and undefeated after three Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference games.

Greg Halle (Beverly, Mass.) was marked for the loss after allowing three goals on four shots. The Rams drop to 7-3 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.
 
Tony Moreno connected 35 yards across the width of the pitch at 3:52 to David Miller (Lancaster, PA) who headed the pass into the net to kick start the contest. Josh DaSilva (Lowell, Mass.) continued the momentum on the ensuing restart with a long distance boot to give the Vikings an early two-nil lead at 4:06. 

Salem State added insurance at 56:12 on Jovan Sempa's (Woburn, Mass.) goal from a perfectly placed Owen Quane (Weymouth, Mass.) corner kick for the third goal of the contest.

Ronaldo Viera (Framingham, Mass.) tapped into the Viking lead at 79:46 with a goal off of Scotty Faria's (Fall River, Mass.) corner kick.

The game was solidified with freshman Nelson Mendoza's unassisted goal – the first of his collegiate career - that dribbled past Rams reserve goalkeeper Sam Yoder (Southbridge, MA) at 82:34. 

Entering the match-up Framingham State had the conference's lowest goals against average. 

The Salem State University Vikings will host the Keene State Owls at Alumni Field on Wednesday evening at seven o'clock, while Framingham State travels to Springfield College on October, 6th.

Release courtesy of Salem State Sports Information.