Men's Soccer Falls in Conference Finals to Salem 3-0
Salem, Mass. - The third seed Salem State Vikings claimed their second straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer championship with a 3-0 victory over the fourth seed Framingham State Rams on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Salem State will now await their next opponent as they automatically qualify for the NCAA Division III tournament. The Rams (11-9-1) await word of a possible berth in the ECAC Tournament.
The Vikings Juan Panameno (Revere, MA) scored on a direct kick that deflected off a Framingham State player to give the home team a 1-0 lead with 16:01 left in the first half.
The Vikings then controlled play for the rest of the opening period as the blue and orange out-shot the Rams 11-4 in the half and held a 3-2 margin in corner kicks.
Salem State had two strong scoring opportunities thwarted by excellent defensive play. Will Menter (Haverhill, MA) made a great defensive save for the Rams on a Jovan Sempa (Woburn, MA) shot from 15 yards out after goalie after Greg Halle (Beverly, MA) strayed too far out of the box. Later Sean Austin (Winchester, MA) made another block on an Owen Quane (Weymouth, MA) shot at the 28:20 mark to keep Salem State off the scoreboard.
Scotty Faria (Fall River, MA) almost tied the game for Framingham State with a rocket that was stopped by Scott Hall (Waltham, MA) with 8:40 remaining in the first half. Salem State kept MASCAC player of the year Jason Silva (Northbridge, MA) in check limiting the forward to just two first half shots on goal as the Vikings carried a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Jovan Sempa (Woburn, MA) extended the Salem State lead to 2-0 when he scored on a break-away with 24:39 remaining in the game.
The Rams had two excellent scoring chances when Joel Kayima (Malden, MA) just missed cutting the deficit to 2-1 when his shot went just wide of the left goal post at 83:34, and later Framingham State's Silva hit the post with a shot with only 4:20 remaining in the game.
Tony Moreno (Lynn, MA) added an insurance goal for Salem State with a score at 88:28 to make the final 3-0.
The Vikings out-shot the Rams 17-8 in the game and never allowed Framingham State to find an offensive rhythm in a contest that featured 33 fouls, six yellow cards and one red card combined between the teams.
Hall making just his fifth start in goal picked up the win while making two saves for the Vikings, who improve to 9-5-4 on the year. Halle, who made five saves, suffered the loss for Framingham State.
Junior Rafael Santos (East Boston, MA) was named MASCAC tournament MVP for Salem State.