By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team closed out the regular season by reaching the 10-win mark for a second straight year.

The Bears defeated the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 6-2, on Friday night at Mazzaferro Field to improve to 10-5-2.

BSU finished atop the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference standings for a second year in a row, going 6-1 and clinching the title two games ago. As the No. 1 seed, it will have an opening-round bye in the tournament.

The Bears will be home for a semifinal-round game on Friday, Nov. 8 at 3:30 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

The Bears have won back-to-back regular-season titles for the first time in program history.

It marks the first time since doing so three years in a row from 2013-15 that BSU has won at least 10 games in consecutive seasons.

Against MCLA, BSU fell behind, 1-0, then scored a pair of first-half goals and three more after the break.

Bears sophomore Hector Bucio (Easton, Mass.) had a pair of goals and an assist while junior Filippo Mucchi (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) had three assists after entering the game with two on the season.

BSU registered a season-high goal total and has 11 goals in the last two games.

The Trailblazers took advantage of a BSU turnover to take the 1-0 lead at 16:05.

Sophomore Jacob Malburg (Amesbury, Mass.) scored off a rebound from a shot by freshman Traizen Griffith (Enfield, Conn.). The initial shot came from the left side following the turnover, and Malburg took the rebound close to the near post where he slipped a shot into the net.

Bucio evened the game at 25:57 with his fifth goal of the season.

A long punt by Bears senior goalkeeper Lukas Ekmanis (Baxter, Tenn.) was headed back by an MCLA defender to the 18 where another defender missed on his attempt to head the ball.

Bucio was the first to get to the loose ball, getting behind the Trailblazers' defense and beat junior keeper Ryan Taylor (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) one-on-one with a shot to the left side.

Senior Carsten Boloz (Southborough, Mass.) gave BSU a 2-1 lead at halftime with his first goal of the season, scoring at 38:37 with Mucci and Bucio picking up the assists.

Boloz lofted a shot from about 24 yards out into the top left side of the cage off a back pass from Mucci.

The Bears went up, 3-1, at 48:42, when junior Gavin Norton (Rockland, Mass.) scored, assisted by Mucci.

Bucio made a run down the left side from near midfield, then centered a pass to Mucci inside the 18. Mucci turned and slipped the ball over to Norton on the right, and he ripped a shot into the top right corner of the net.

BSU extended the lead to 4-1 at 59:48 as senior Nicolas Matias (Framingham, Mass.) scored his fourth goal, assisted by Mucci and classmate Dominek Borden (New Bedford, Mass.).

On a play that was perfectly executed with timed passing, Borden sent a pass towards the top of the 18, onto the foot of Mucci. He lobbed a one-timer to the top of the six where Matias ran onto the ball and put a sliding shot inside the right post.

The Bears made it 5-1 at 63:05 on a goal by Bucio with Borden and Matias getting the assists.

From the right side, Matias sent a cross into the box that was headed towards the right post by Borden. Bucio and converged with the MCLA keeper on the ball nearly simultaneously, and Bucio was able to knock it over the goal line.

The Trailblazers netted their second goal at 79:10 with junior Avery Manzolini (New Lebanon, N.Y.) scoring. The shot went inside the right post as Manzolini got behind the defense, and senior Ethan Smith (Brookline, N.H.) and senior Conor Green (Bolton, Mass.) collected the assists.

The scoring concluded at 79:57 when BSU sophomore Connor Wesloski (Wilbraham, Mass.) was assisted by junior Melvin Alves (Brockton, Mass.) and freshman Thomas Neves (Medway, Mass.) for his first goal.

Neves collected the rebound of an Alves' shot near the goal line on the left side of the net. Neves pushed the ball back to Alves, who slid a pass to Wesloski near the top of the 18. Wesloski buried a shot from 17 yards out inside the left post.

The assist for Neves marked his first collegiate point.

Ekmanis made one save with freshman Tyler Rocchio (Attleboro, Mass.) playing the final 12:41 in his collegiate debut and had no saves. Taylor had 10 stops for MCLA (7-8-2, 2-4-1 MASCAC).

Bucio and Norton are tied for the BSU lead with six goals each while Norton has 18 points to lead the Bears.