Posted: Oct 11, 2024

Men’s Soccer Drop 1-0 Decision to Worcester State

Senior Ryan Taylor made two saves, while sophomore Traizen Griffith had a team-high three shots on goal against Worcester State.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.—The MCLA Men's Soccer Team welcomed Worcester State Lancers to Shewcraft Field this evening for a MASCAC matchup at Shewcraft Field. The game remained scoreless into the 54^th minute when Worcester's Mal Hawkins picked up his fourth goal of the season.

THE BASICS:

Date: Friday, October 11, 2024
Score: Worcester State 1, MCLA 0
Records: Worcester State Lancers 3-7-1 (Conference 2-1-1) | MCLA Trailblazers 5-6-2 (MASCAC 1-2-1)
Series History: MCLA leads the all-time series 24-16-7, including a 1-0 win on October 7^th last year in Worcester. Worcester State took the first-ever meeting between the teams by a score of 1-0 on October 12, 1968.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The teams played to a scoreless draw in the first half, but MCLA applied the pressure, outshooting the Lancers 10-2 and having a 3-0 edge in shots on goal.
The second half opened much like the first until Worcester tested Trailblazers senior goalkeeper Ryan Taylor (Plattsburgh, NY) for the first time in the 49^th minute and found that Taylor was up to the task when he scooped up a shot from Wilber Garcia.
However, that would not be the case about five minutes later when Mal Hawkins challenged Taylor. The play began with Garcia fighting his way through an MCLA defender while maintaining possession and feeding the ball ahead to Hawkins, who barely stayed onside at the top of the 18-yard box. In stride, Hawkins fired off a shot into the lower right corner of the net, just out of the reach of Taylor, who had come off his line to challenge.
MCLA didn't go away silently, with freshman defender Luke Muhlestein (Salt Lake City, UT) getting off a shot that the Lancers' Tobias Schneider stopped in the 85^th minute and another stop by Schneider on sophomore forward Traizen Griffith (Enfield, CT) in the 88^th minute.
Schnieder finished the night with seven saves, and the sophomore picked up his first collegiate win and shutout. Taylor took the tough luck loss, stopping a pair of shots, but still saw his record fall to 5-4-1.

UP NEXT:

Next Friday, MCLA will be back in action when they play host to Salem State for a MASCAC matchup with the Salem State Vikings at Shewcraft Field. The teams will take the field for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

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