Men's Soccer Blanks Salem State, 8-0

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Junior forward Conor Murtagh (Walpole, Mass.) and sophomore forward Prince Collins (Boston, Mass.) each netted a pair of goals as the Bridgewater State University men's soccer team posted an 8-0 victory over Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) rival Salem State University on Saturday afternoon at rainy Swenson Field in the regular season finale for both teams.

With the win, the Bears capture the MASCAC regular season title outright as they improve to 9-7-1 overall and 5-1-1 in conference play.  Bridgewater will host a tournament semifinal game next Friday night at seven.  The visiting Vikings wrap up the 2014 campaign with an overall mark of 3-12-1 (2-5 MASCAC).

Bridgewater dominated play from start to finish outshooting the Vikings, 26-1.  Eleven different players recorded at least one points for the Bears including six different goal scorers.

BSU held a 5-0 lead at the intermission as Murtagh found the back of the net twice over the first 45 minutes.  Sophomore forward Andrew Chenard (Kingston, Mass.), sophomore defender Jonathan Pires (Medford, Mass.) and sophomore forward Colby LeSage (Maynard, Mass.) also scored first half goals for the Bears with Pires' tally coming on a penalty kick.

Murtagh opened the scoring in the 17th minute on a breakaway with junior midfielder Sawyer Fleck (Foxboro, Mass.) picking up the assist on a through ball. Chenard made it a 2-0 game in the 22nd minute as he converted a cross from junior midfielder Kolin Campbell (Norton, Mass.) for his fifth goal of the season.

Junior forward Kevin Sosa (Norwalk, Conn.) drew the PK in the 33rd minute resulting in Pires' first goal of the year.

Fifth-eight seconds later, Murtagh scored his MASCAC-leading ninth goal of the season as he ripped a shot inside the right post off a deflected cross from senior midfielder Steve McAvoy (Walpole, Mass.).

LeSage closed out the first half scoring in the 37th minute as he headed in a long volleyball from Pires off a restart.  The Bears outshot the Vikings 16-0 in the opening stanza.

Collins knocked in the rebound of a Jonathan Ferrara (Swansea, Mass.) shot in the 50th minute.  A little over three minutes later, Collins made it a 7-0 game as he tucked a shot inside the left post off a cross from LeSage.

Freshman midfielder Cody Shannon (Norton, Mass.) rounded out the scoring in the 56th minute with his first collegiate goal.  Shannon headed in a cross from LeSage with sophomore defender Andrew Vernaglia (Andover, Mass.) picking up the secondary assist.

BSU sophomore netminder Colin Jepson (Sandwich, Mass.) notched his conference-leading seventh shutout of the season between the pipes for the Bears. Jepson did not face a shot throughout the contest as the Vikings' only attempt was off frame.

Salem State senior Nondas Kargakis (Heraklion, Greece) turned aside six shots in goal for the visitors.

Prior to the game, the Bears honored seniors Josh Goehring (Haverhill, Mass.), McAvoy, Chris Naughton (Braintree, Mass.) and David Wilson (Charlton, Mass.).

Notes: The MASCAC regular season crown marks the fourth in BSU men's soccer history and first since 2009….The Bears also won the title outright in 1994 and 2009, and were co-champions in 2003….The eight-goal difference marked the Bears largest margin of victory since an 11-1 win over Framingham State in 2002.