Connecticut College Tops Men’s Soccer, 5-1

Framingham, Mass. – The Framingham State University men's soccer team absorbed a 5-1 setback to visiting Connecticut College in a non-conference match played at Maple Street Field on Wednesday afternoon. 

Junior Kevin O'Brien (Wellesley, Mass.) put the Camels up 1-0 in the 24th minute as he slid a feed from sophomore Matthew Bitchell (Byfield, Mass.) past the outstretched keeper. O'Brien's bid for a second goal nearly 30 seconds later was broken up by a foul inside the box to setup the penalty kick goal by junior Zach Punt (West Hartford, Conn.) at 23:50.  Bitchell later swiped the ball from the defense and knocked home his first goal of the year at 27:57.

After the break, senior Billy Hawkey (Pennington, NJ) found an opening in the lower left corner of the net off a pass from rookie Ibrham Mutala (Accra, Ghana) at 63:10.  Framingham State disrupted the Camels shutout bid when freshman Kelvin Okyere (Auburn, MA) capitalized on the keeper being out of position at 68:25 for his first collegiate goal. Mutala capped Connecticut College's scoring as he stuffed home a rebound on a shot initially taken by freshman Charlie Overton (Far Hills, NJ) at 72:58.

Despite collecting a game-high 11 saves, freshman Jacob Nichols (Sturbridge, Mass.) shouldered the loss (0-1-0) in his first collegiate start before yielding to junior William Levitsky (Westford, Mass.) for the final 17:02. Camel senior goalkeeper Max Nichols (Mill Valley, Calif.) stopped five shots in the complete-game victory.

As a team, Connecticut College outshot the hosts 29-6 and was awarded 10 of the 13 corner kicks in the contest.

The Rams (1-9-0) travel to Salem State for a 1pm Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup while the Camels (4-2-2) entertain Bates in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tilt at 2pm on Saturday.