Western New England Rallies Over Men's Soccer

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Elms College men's soccer squad was unable to overcome the comeback rally by host Western New England in a 4-2 non-conference loss at Suprenant Field Tuesday afternoon. The Blazers dip to 2-10 on the season, while the Golden Bears improve to 5-7 overall.

The Blazers withstood an early barrage from the Golden Bears in the opening 12 minutes. In the 13^th minute of play, junior Donald Whittle (Somers, Conn.) lofted a ball to the front of the Western New England net, where a Golden Bear defender cleared the ball with a header, but the loose ball ended up at the foot of Elms sophomore Colby Macdonald (Bristol, Conn.), who ripped a into the far right side of the net, staking the Blazers to a 1-0 lead. Whittle nearly made it a 2-0 lead in the less than two minutes later, but his strike rang off the post.

The Golden Bears found their equalizer at the 16:31 mark as junior Logan Pingree (Middletown, Mass.) netted an unassisted strike from the far right side of the box into the upper left corner. Western New England grabbed control of the scoreboard in the 22^nd minute when senior Kory Caster (Wilbraham, Mass.) dribbled through the Blazers defense and blasted a shot off the hands of Elms freshman goalkeeper Tyler Graves (Monson, Mass.) and into the goal, giving the Golden Bears a 2-1 lead.

With 14:13 remaining in the first half, Western New England added to their advantage as Pingree headed home a corner kick from freshman Corey Brown (Somers, Conn.) to push WNE to a 3-1 lead. As the clock ticked under the two-minute mark, Pingree found junior Troy Remillard (Palmer, Mass.), who beat an Elms defender and placed a shot into the right corner of the net, to hand the Golden Bears a 4-1 lead heading into halftime.

An early attempt from Elms sophomore Shaquille Robinson (New York, N.Y.) was blocked by the Western New England defense to maintain the 4-1 lead in the 50^th minute. The Blazers added a late goal from junior C.J. Dabkowski (Bristol, Conn.), who laced a bullet from 30 yards out into the corner in the 87^th minute, as the Blazers suffered the 4-2 setback.

The Golden Bears controlled the shot column, 27-10, during the contest. Graves made a match-high five saves for Elms, while WNE senior Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) stopped one shot in the win.

The Blazers will return to the pitch with a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) tilt at Newbury College Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Bears travel to Roger Williams for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) clash Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER