Men's Soccer Falls To Western New England, 1-0

Worcester, MA --- Western New England freshman Logan Pingree (Middletown, CT) potted his first collegiate tally for the game winner in the 82nd minute as he helped lift the Golden Bears to a 1-0 triumph over Worcester State in non-league men's soccer action this evening at Coughlin Field.

With the victory, WNE improves to 8-6-1 on the campaign while the Lancers fall to 4-7-2 overall.

It was an uneventful opening stanza as the visitors held the 4-0 advantage in shots at the half.

The best chance to score for either side was 3:15 into the contest as Western New England sophomore Neil Williams (Brewster, NY) was just off target and hit left side of the crossbar.

After the intermission, Worcester State came out onto the field and went on the offensive. Over the first 25 minutes of the stanza, the hosts opened with a 6-1 margin in shots.

Following consecutive corner kicks, freshman Matthew Dent (Ludlow, MA) had open looks each time on the left side of the box with a pair of header bids, but sophomore keeper Kevin Strobel (Rockland, MA) scooped them both up.

In the 80th minute, the Blue and Gold had a trio of chances, with a golden opportunity as senior Derek Alves (Ludlow, MA) caught the ricochet of his own rebound that was deflected off a defender, however, Strobel flicked the ball out of harm's way, preserving the scoreless game.

The Golden Bears used the fine effort between the pipes to capitalize on a corner kick two minutes later to take over the 1-0 edge. Sophomore Ryan Dickenson (South Hadley, MA) found Pingree on a perfect cross from the right side of the field and Pingree tucked a ball past the keeper to the bottom left corner of the net.

Western New England kept the pressure on and did not allow the Lancers another quality shot on net in the final nine minutes of the second period.

Strobel (8-6-2) finished with five saves in his sixth shutout of the campaign. Senior net minder Emil Dedo (Worcester, MA/Doherty) turned aside three in the setback as his record falls to 2-3-1.

WNE finished with the 13-11 lead in shots while WSU led in corners, 5-3, including four in the second half.

Both teams return to their respective conference schedules on Saturday afternoon. Worcester State heads to Salem State for a 1 o'clock MASCAC affair as the Golden Bears travel to Wentworth for a 3:30 Commonwealth Coast Conference battle.