MCLA Men's Soccer Wins League Opener; Tennis, Volleyball Win
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The MCLA men's soccer team opened up the MASCAC slate with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Worcester State Lancers this afternoon at Shewcraft Field.
The Trailblazers receieved goals from three different players as they moved to 4-2 on the season. Worcester State fell to 1-5-1 and 0-1 in the MASCAC.
The physical contest saw the Trailblazers strike in the 23rd minute on a beautiful goal from leading scorer Dylan Pereira. After earning a corner kick, Edward Boateng played the ball quickly to Tyler Vona on the left wing. Vona sent the ball into the box and Pereira headed it past Lancer keeper Tim Schmidt for a 1-0 advantage.
The score remained that way into the second half. MCLA continued to be aggresive and in the 60th minute, Nolan Burke knocked home a nice through pass from Anthony Basileto increase the lead to 2-0. The marker was the first of the season for Burke.
The Trailblazers appeared to be in cruise control when Oscar Castro got out in front of the WSU defense and easily chipped the ball past Schmidt for an apparently insurmountable 3-0 lead with just eight minutes left.
The Lancers, however, answered immediately as Alec Ostrowski hammered home a loose ball in front of the net in the 84th minute to bring WSU to within 3-1. MCLA settled down and then easily ran out the clock to secure the win.
Matt Robinson stopped five shots to earn the win for MCLA. Schmidt collected four saves in defeat.
For the match, MCLA owned a 16-10 shot advantage and a slim 5-4 lead in corners.
The physical contest saw 35 fouls and 5 cautions.
The Trailblazers are back in action on Tuesday when they host Skidmore.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
LYNDON, Vt. - The MCLA women's tennis team picked up its first NAC win of the season with a convincing 8-1 decision over the Lyndon State Hornets.
Sarah Murphy, Sarah Mikutowicz, Mariza Sfakianaki, Rebecca Waterhouse, and Ama Adwetewa-Badu each won a pair of matches for MCLA (3-3, 1-1).
MCLA swept the doubles matches convincingly to take an early 3-0 lead. They carried that into singles play on the heels of Mikutowicz and Murphy. The duo held serve with straight set victories at the first and second singles slots.
A pivotal point came from Mount Greylock graduate Sfakianaki, who won after dropping the first set in the third singles match. She rallied to earn the point with comeback sets of 6-0 and 6-1.
Waterhouse and Badu teamed to win their doubles match, while each cruised in singles competition.
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
MILTON, Mass. – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts came back from a two-set deficit to take the match 3-2 from host Curry College in non-conference women's volleyball action Saturday afternoon in Milton.
Curry (4-9) took the first two sets comfortably by scores of 25-16 and 25-20. MCLA (7-3) fought back to edge out the Colonels 25-22 in the third set. In the fourth set, the Trailblazers maintained a steady lead and held off a late rally by Curry for a 25-23 victory. MCLA then went on to control the deciding set, clinching the match with a nine-point win at 15-6.
Junior Courtney Parent pushed the Trailblazers to victory with impressive match-highs in kills (10), assists (21), and serving aces (6). Freshman Chanielle Enomoto followed behind with 15 setting assists and eight digs. Senior Alexandra Chang chipped in with 11 digs.
MCLA hosts Sage College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
