Men's Soccer Eliminated from ECAC Tournament with 2-1 Loss at Salve Regina

Newport, R.I. - Junior Sean McAllister (North Arlington, N.J.) scored his second goal of the match with under 12 minutes remaining to lift the Salve Regina University men's soccer team to its first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament win, a 2-1 triumph over Framingham State University Wednesday afternoon at Brother Michael Reynolds Field.

The win puts the third seed Seahawks into the semifinals and sets up a rematch with The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) rival and number two seed Western New England on Saturday in Springfield, Mass. Salve Regina moves to 14-5-2 with today's win, which ties the school-record of 14 wins set by the 1998 CCC Championship squad.

The Rams (11-10-1) trailed 1-0 for all but 2:09 of the match before senior Scotty Faria (Fall River, Mass.) tied the game at one at 76:24. Sophomore Christopher Wilkins (Heath, Mass.) drilled a long shot that was turned aside by SRU sophomore goalkeeper Devin O'Gorman (Canton, Mass.), but Faria pounced on the rebound and scored his 12th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, McAllister grabbed a loose ball and netted his 15th goal of the year. He cut towards the middle of the field, stopped at the top left corner of the box, and fired a shot that tucked inside the far right post at 78:01.

McAllister staked the Seahawks to a 1-0 lead just 2:09 into the match. He stole the ball from an FSU defender and dribbled down the left side of the field uncontested. McAllister faked senior goalkeeper Greg Halle (Beverly, Mass.) then dribbled to his left and booted the ball into the empty net.

Salve Regina outshot the Rams 10-2 in the first half and also saw shots from junior Chris Knoth (East Islip, N.Y.) and freshman Jacob Brigandi (Vernon, Conn.) ring off the post.

Playing with the wind at their backs to start the second half, the Rams picked up their play and forced O'Gorman to make his only two saves of the match. O'Gorman first turned aside a shot by Wilkins at 65:25 and later denied junior Richie Greene (Haverhill, Mass.) at 67:26. Minutes after a booming kick by sophomore back Will Menter (Haverhill, Mass.) sailed just high of the net, Faria evened the score and set the stage for McAllister's heroics.

The Seahawks finished the afternoon with a 17-7 edge in shots while the Rams held a 4-1 edge in corner kicks. Halle finished the afternoon with nine saves and finishes his season 11-10-2 while O'Gorman stopped two shots to improve to 12-4-2.