By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team improved to 2-0 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Saturday.
The Bears scored a pair of second-half goals in less than eight minutes and defeated Fitchburg State University, 2-0, at Mazzaferro Field.
Both conference victories have been by shutout for BSU, which opened with a 4-0 win over Worcester State University.
The Bears are at the .500 mark overall with a 3-3-2 record while the Falcons fell to 3-5-2 and 0-1-1 in the MASCAC.
BSU coach Brendan Adams recorded the 199th victory of his career, which began in 2002.
The victory was the first at home for BSU, which began with two losses and a tie on its own field.
Juniors Colin Evans (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Ryan Healy (Cork, Ireland) were the goal scorers for the Bears while senior Lukas Ekmanis (Baxter, Tenn.) recorded his third career shutout and second of the season.
The game was scoreless until the 76-minute mark when Evans got the Bears on the board.
Sophomore Nicholas Ribeiro (Bellingham, Mass.) sent a pass to junior Filippo Mucci (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) at the top of the 18.
A quick one-touch pass went to a cutting Gavin Norton (Rockland, Mass.), who slipped a pass to Evans on the right side of the six. A sliding shot by Evans went inside the far post for his second goal this season.
At 83:30, the Bears added an insurance goal with Healy nettng his first of the season, assisted by Ribeiro.
Sophomore Tyler Chang (Achusnet, Mass.) centered a pass to Ribeiro, who dribbled in and slipped a pass in between two defenders.
The ball went to Healy, who beat the keeper one-on-one with a shot to the top right corner for his first goal of the season.
The shots on goal were even at 6-6 while the Falcons had an 11-9 shots advantage.
Ekmanis made six saves while Fitchburg State sophomore Alexander Carvalho (North Providence, R.I.) had four saves.
Adams can earn his 200th coaching victory on Wednesday night when the Bears have a non-conference game against Salve Regina at 7 p.m. at Mazzaferro Field.
Fitchburg State is at Nichols College Wednesday for a 3 p.m. game.