Hot First Pushes Lancers Past Anchormen

Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Men's Soccer team hosted their home opener this afternoon at Coughlin Field after playing to a tie Thursday night at WPI. The Lancers came in with the same fighting tenacity in today's game.

After a quick goal just two minutes into the game by the Anchormen's Larry Garcia off a long pass from Christion Restrepo put RIC up 1-0, the Lancers quickly charged onto the offensive. Worcester State started a bit too quick on the step catching an early yellow card for junior Luke-Mark Anu after a late offside call resulted in a run in with RIC's goalkeeper Jake Reed for a loose ball. The game settled into a classic midfield battle with each side firing off some shots and stealing passes in the midfield before sophomore Jemal Mohamud sailed around Rhode Island's Steven Schmidt and went sprinting down the left sideline into the box before being tackled hard by Schmidt. A yellow card was awarded on the play and junior Manny Ramirez stepped to the line for the Lancers and fired the ball dead center past a diving Reed to tie the game at one a piece. Mohamud was not done yet when under a minute later he grabbed a pass in the midfield and used his quick feet to work around the Anchormen defense, sending the ball sailing to the opposite top right corner to put Worcester State in the lead 2-1.

Worcester never lost that lead and nearly halfway through the second half Ramirez, assisted by first year Taylor Gavaletz, found the back of the cage for his second of the game to extend the Lancers lead to 3-1. As the final minutes on the clock wrapped up a number of cards were issued to both sides as Rhode Island fought to close the gap, but Worcester State banded together and shut down every opportunity.

Lancer goalkeeper, sophomore Andy Ramirez, had a stellar night with just one early goal allowed and seven saves, while working to keep his defense calm and in formation as Rhode Island set up around the box with 19 attempts on net. The Anchorman's Jake Reed had two saves in the afternoon as Worcester sent eight attempts towards the cage.

The Lancers move to 1-0-1 on the season while RIC falls to 0-2. Worcester State is back in action on Thursday September 8 when they head down to New London, CT to take on Mitchell College at 3pm.