Men's Soccer Drops 2-1 Decision to Fitchburg State

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to visiting Fitchburg State University in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup on Friday night at Swenson Field.

The host Bears fall to 5-6-2 on the season and 2-2-1 in the MASCAC, while the Falcons improve to 3-9-1 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

Fitchburg jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of first half goals from freshman forward Matthew Krikorian (Groton, Mass.) and senior midfielder Steven Martinez (Middlesex, N.J.). Krikorian beat the BSU netminder one-on-one after collecting a nice feed from Martinez in the 12th minute, while Martinez notched his first goal of the season on a penalty kick at the 25-minute mark.

The Bears cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 63rd minute of play off a restart from just outside the 18. Sophomore forward Filipe Gomes (Fogo, Cape Verde) slid a pass to a wide open Jonathan Pires (Medford, Mass.) stationed on the right side. Pires beat the Fitchburg netminder with a shot inside the far post for his first goal of the 2016 campaign.

Bridgewater held a 26-10 shot advantage of the game including a 16-3 edge in the second half.

Junior goalkeeper Alex Al-Zaibak (Hingham, Mass.) turned aside nine shots to record his first win of the season. Five of Al-Zaibak's nine saves came in the second half including a critical diving stop on a point-blank range shot by BSU sophomore forward Jameson Bradley (Westborough, Mass.) with five minutes left to play.

BSU senior netminder Colin Jepson (Sandwich, Mass.) made four saves in the setback.

In upcoming action, the Bears travel to UMass Dartmouth next Tuesday evening for a seven o'clock game with the Corsairs, while the Falcons entertain the Engineers of WPI on Wednesday afternoon at four.