Men's Soccer Blanked in Opening Day of Conference Play

BEVERLY, Mass. – Western New England University scored twice in the first half and shut down the Endicott offense en route to a 3-0 victory as both teams opened up their 2011 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) schedule. Endicott fell to 0-3 on the season while the Golden Bears improve to 4-1.

The visitors grabbed the lead just under twenty minutes in when they were awarded a penalty shot after a foul by Endicott in the box. Senior midfielder Corey Howard (Hopedale, Mass.) stepped up and sent Alex Jorge (Billerica, Mass.) the wrong way for his second goal of the year.

Despite going down a goal, the Blue and Green fought hard through the rest of the first half, but were victimized again in the fortieth minute. John Rusin (Chicopee, Mass.) was the beneficiary of a scrum in front of the net and pounced on a loose ball the bounced off of Jorge for his first goal of the year. WNE went into the halftime break with a 2-0 advantage.

The Gulls had some chances to get on the scoreboard, but several shots, especially headers off of set pieces went just high of the goal. Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.) had several opportunities go wanting, as did attempts by Ryan D’Amico (Marlborough, Conn.) and Ryan Coates (Wethersfrield, Conn.) The Gulls edged Western New England in corner kicks 6-5 but the Golden Bears outshot the hosts by a 15-8 margin. WNE was caught offside six times, to just once by the Gulls.

WNE sophomore Jake Bartnik (East Longmeadow, Mass.) added the final touch to the victory in the sixty-first minute when he spun in the box and regained control of a touch-past to himself before blasting a shot from point blank range past Aaron Kanter (Medfield, Mass.), who had substituted in at halftime to play goal for Endicott. Kanter made two saves in his half of play, while Jorge stopped three shots in the first half.

Both teams will return to non-conference action and both will next play the anchormen of Rhode Island College. The Gulls will continue to search for their first victory of the season at home on Wednesday when they host RIC at 7:00 PM. Western New England will travel to Providence tomorrow for a 1:00 matchup.