BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team celebrated Senior Day with a 3-0 victory over visiting UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday afternoon at Mazzaferro Field.
The Bears improve to 8-2-4 on the season while the Corsairs fall to 1-11-3. Bridgewater State is 26-12-6 versus UMass since 1979.
Senior forward David Nelson (East Bridgewater, Mass.) converted off a crossing pass from sophomore defender Gavin Norton (Rockland, Mass.) in the 28th minute to stake the Bears to the 1-0 lead. Nelson's shot from 13 yards out clipped the fingertips of the diving UMD keeper and found its way into the right side of the cage for his fifth goal of the season and 24th of his career.
A header attempt by sophomore forward Colin Evans (East Longmeadow, Mass.) off a restart in the 37th minute nearly made it a two-goal game, but UMass freshman keeper Kellen Porter (Rockland, Mass.) made an outstanding diving stop. Seconds later, a blast by junior forward Dominik Borden (New Bedford, Mass.) from inside the 18 was deflected just wide of the left post.
Freshman midfielder Nicholas Ribeiro (Bellingham, Mass.) extended the BSU advantage to 2-0 with just 58 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Evans started the play with a long volley into the 18 and onto the foot of Borden. Borden sent a short cross to Ribeiro who turned back to the middle and slipped a shot inside the left post for his fifth marker of the 2023 campaign.
Senior defender Matthew Garcia (Foxboro, Mass.) scored off a nice feed from Nelson in the 54th minute to make it a 3-0 game. Ribeiro set things up with a pass down the left side. Nelson ran onto the ball, cut into the 18 and slid a pass to a wide-open Garcia who beat the keeper with shot inside the right post. For Garcia, the goal marked his second of the season.
Bridgewater finished with a decided 24-6 shot advantage as well an 8-5 edge in corner kicks attempts.
BSU graduate netminder William Russell (Sandwich, Mass.) was forced to make just two saves as he recorded his 21st collegiate win and tenth career shutout.
Porter turned aside five shots in the setback for the Corsairs.
Prior to the start of the game, the Bears honored Nelson, Garcia, Russell and fellow Senior Day honorees Ethan DeMelo (Acushnet, Mass.), Will Halben (Attleboro, Mass.), Jacob Ramos (New Bedford, Mass.) and Dan Santos (Milford, Mass.).
Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon. The Bears travel to Westfield State University for a noontime Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) game with the Owls. The Corsairs head to Eastern Connecticut State University to take on the Warriors at one o'clock in a Little East Conference matchup.
Notes: With his goal and assist, Nelson is now seventh all-time in BSU men's soccer history in goals (24) and tied for seventh in points (along with Domingos Leal) with 62….Russell is seventh among the Bears' all-time leaders in goaltending wins with 21.