Falcons Nipped by Cougars, 5-1

 Falcons Nipped by Cougars, 5-1

Fitchburg, Mass. – Three first-half goals led the Cougars of Clark University past the Fitchburg State University men's soccer team, 5-1 in non-conference action on Wednesday evening at Elliot Field.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State University 1, Clark University 5
Records: Fitchburg State (4-5-2) | Clark University (6-4-3)

How It Happened

The Cougars crashed the scoreboard first just four minutes into the match when sophomore Sean Munroe (Silver Spring, Md.) corralled a loose rebound in front of the net and potted his team-leading tenth goal of the year.

The visitors doubled the score in the 29^th minute. Junior Jack Stark (Abington, Mass.) chipped a short pass over the Falcons defense to teammate Evan Jurkowski (Ludlow, Mass.) who rocketed a shot top shelf for his second goal of the season.

Freshman Alex Nicholson (Barrington, Mass.) made it 3-0 Clark in the 30^th minute with an unassisted tally for his first collegiate goal.

After intermission, the Falcons broke up the shutout in the 50^th minute. Sophomore Hassan Koroma (Millbury, Mass.) spilt the Cougar defense and delivered a low shot that tucked inside the right post for his second of the season.

Just five minutes later Clark pushed the lead back to three when Nicolson found streaking classmate Patrick Clark (Plainville, Mass.) for the first goal of his career.

Senior Isaac Smith (Baton Rouge, La.) added an insurance goal for the Cougars in the 89^th minute.

Inside the Numbers

Clark held the advantage in shots (18-13) and corners (5-3).

Freshman Melvin Vincent (Rochester, Mass.) had four saves in 81 minutes of action for his second win of the season for the visitors, while Branton Abbett (Jasper, Ind.) turned back seven shots in the loss. 

31st meeting between two schools on the pitch with the Falcons 6-23-2 when taking on the Cougars.

Clark has won the previous 12 match ups with Fitchburg State with the Falcons last win against the Cougars occurring on Oct. 25, 1994 (5-0).

Up Next

The Falcons return to MASCAC play on Friday evening when they travel to Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a 6:00pm tilt. The Cougars' travel to MIT on Saturday afternoon for a NEWMAC match-up at 1:00pm.