Fitchburg State Upended By UMass Dartmouth, 5-0

Al-Zaibak and Smith combine for four saves in non-conference setback

N. DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Fitchburg State suffered a tough 5-0 setback to the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth in non-conference men's soccer action this evening at Cressy Field on the campus of UMass Dartmouth.

In the first half, UMass Dartmouth grabbed the early lead as sophomore John Correia struck for his third tally on the season with an unassisted goal just one minute into the contest for the 1-0 margin. The Corsairs doubled their advantage (2-0) roughly two and half minutes later when junior midfielder Austin Dias fired a shot into the left side of the net for his third marker of the 2016 campaign.

The hosts upped its lead at the 7:37 mark as senior Stephan Teixeira received a teed from junior Haden Cordeiro and deposited the ball inside the far post for his second goal on the season for the 3-0 lead going into intermission.

Following the break, UMass Dartmouth continued its offensive pressure in the 53rd minute of action when junior Fablo Araujo found the back of the net for his first score of the year off an assist by sophomore Junior Monteiro to make the score 4-0

The Corsairs capped the scoring at the 65:25 mark as Cordeiro settled a feed from junior Matt Vidal and buried a shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season, resulting in the 5-0 final.

Throughout the match, UMass Dartmouth outshot Fitchburg State by a 20-5 margin, while also holding a commanding 9-1 advantage in corner kicks. In between the pipes, junior Alex Al-Zaibak and sophomore Connor Smith combined to stop four shots for the Falcons, while senior Luis Carranza made two saves in 90:00 minutes of action for the Corsairs.

Fitchburg State (0-2-0, 0-0-0 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it hosts the Hawks of Becker College at 10 a.m. UMass Dartmouth (3-0-0, 0-0-0 LEC) will host the Endicott on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

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