BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team edged visiting UMass Dartmouth, 2-1, in a non-conference match on Tuesday afternoon at Swenson Field.
Junior defender Stanislaus Sokolov (Reading, Mass.) and junior midfielder Shane Ebanks (Upton, Mass.) scored first-half goals for the Bears who improve to 3-11-1 on the season. The Corsairs fall to 7-6-1 with their second straight setback. Bridgewater State is now 24-10-5 versus UMass since 1980. The Bears have won each of the last eight meetings.
A header goal by Sokolov off a short corner sent into the box by senior forward Justin Borges (Milford, Mass.) staked the Bears to a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. Freshman midfielder Joseph Madden Jr. (Milford, Mass.), who took the corner, picked up the secondary assist. Madden Jr. now leads the team with four assists.
Ebanks tucked a left-footed shot inside the left post from 12 yards out to make it a 2-0 game in the 34th minute. Junior midfielder Adam Gold (Norwood, Mass.) and sophomore forward Patrick Gildea (Bridgewater, Mass.) each assisted on the goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper Chris Moussavi (Bellmore, N.Y.) made a couple of nice kick saves in the first half. Moussavi stopped junior forward Kevin Roberts (Medway, Mass.) less than 90 seconds into the contest and turned aside a shot by freshman midfielder Will Halben (Attleboro, Mass.) from close-range in the 25th minute.
Bridgewater State held a 15-9 shot advantage over the first 45 minutes as the Bears took the 2-0 lead into the break.
BSU senior netminder Nate Morgado (Dartmouth, Mass.) made an outstanding diving stop in the 55th minute to keep the Corsairs off the board. A redirect by junior midfielder Yorik Sajbin (Fall River, Mass.) off a restart was labeled for inside the far post. Morgado dove to his right and pushed the ball wide of the iron.
Morgado made another outstanding save on a shot by freshman midfielder Cody Santo (Dartmouth, Mass.) from the top of the 18 in the 62nd minute. The Corsairs also had a goal called back due to an offside call in the 77th minute.
A header attempt by BSU freshman defender Noah Jacques (Greenfield, mass.) off a corner kick sailed just over the crossbar in the 75th minute. Halben rang one off the post in the 84th minute.
UMass freshman forward Eric Barry (Framingham, Mass.) broke up the shutout bid with just 20 second showing on the scoreboard as he buried a shot into the top-left corner of the net from just outside the 18. Sophomore midfielder Uan O'Brien (Hadley, Mass.) and senior midfielder Nate Pacheco (Seekonk, Mass.) assisted on the strike.
The Bears outshot the Corsairs 20-16 for the game and finished with a 12-6 edge in corner kick attempts.
Morgado turned aside six shots to earn his third win of the season and 24th of his career. Moussavi made five saves in the setback for the Corsairs.
Both teams are back in action on Saturday. The Bears travel to MASCAC rival Fitchburg State University to take on the Falcons at 10:00 AM, while the Corsairs head to Western Connecticut State University for a three o'clock Little East Conference game with the Colonials.