FITCHBURG, Mass. – Senior forward Conor Murtagh registered a pair of goals as the Bears of Bridgewater State defeated Fitchburg State University, 3-0 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's soccer action at this afternoon at Elliot Field.

With his two goals and four points Murtagh moved into a tied for seventh place on the Bears all-time career points list with 58, while senior keeper Colin Jepson earned his fourth straight shutout and eighth shutout of the season for Bridgewater State. Jepson now has 15 career clean sheets to his credit.

In the first half, neither team was able to dent the scoreboard as junior Alex Al-Zaibak stopped two shots for the Falcons, while Jepson made three first half saves for Bridgewater State.

Freshman Diego DelasCasas had the Bears best scoring opportunity in the first stanza at the 31:12 mark as he fired a shot towards goal, but Al-Zaibak was able to turn away the shot,. For the Falcons, newcomer Matt Beauregard and junior Nicholas Masley nearly put the hosts on the scoreboard, putting a pair of shot on frame, only to have Jepson stonewall both chance to preserve the 0-0 stalemate going into intermission.

Following intermission, Bridgewater State broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 53rd minute of play when senior Justin Kachadoonan lofted a shot into the upper left corner of the net for his first goal on the season for the 1-0 lead.

The Bears doubled their advantage (2-0) seven minutes later as senior Murtagh collected a corner kick off the foot of DelasCasas and buried a shot inside the far post for his team-leading 11th score of the 2015 campaign.

The visitors upped their lead at the 63:02 mark when Murtagh deposited the ball into the lower right corner of the net for his 12th marker of the season and second goal on the afternoon off an assist from senior Kolin Campbell, resulting in the 3-0 final.

Throughout the match, Bridgewater State finished with a 22-12 advantage in shots, while also holding a 10-4 margin in corner kicks. In goal, Al-Zaibak made five saves for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while Jepson turned away five shots for the Bears in 90 minutes of action.

Fitchburg State (5-8-0, 1-4-0 MASCAC) will be back in action on Wednesday as it travels to WPI to battle the Engineers at 7 p.m. Bridgewater State (11-2-1, 5-0-0 MASCAC) will host the Corsairs  of UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday for a contest starting at 7 p.m.