WORCESTER, Mass. –After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the Worcester State Lancers (0-1) came up short in the second as the WPI Engineers (2-0) earned the 2-1 victory on Sunday (Sep. 4) at John Coughlin Stadium.
WPI started the scoring in the 17th minute when Anthony Vigliotta (Beverly, Mass.) crossed the ball from the right side and placed the ball perfectly for Matt Farrell (Groveland, Mass.) to strike into the net for his first goal of the season.
15 minutes later, the Engineers struck again when Vigliotta, once again, passed ahead to an open Mark Calnan (Winchester, Mass.) who gunned the ball toward the top left of the goal, kissing the crossbar and into the mesh for the 2-0 gain.
Following the intermission, Worcester State came out thriving as George Siotis (Oxford, Mass.) had the Lancers' third shot of the game just seconds in. Though, WPI responded back with eight unanswered shots, until Worcester State finally got a shot off in the 69th minute.
It wasn't until the 82nd minute of the game that Worcester State proposed a comeback. Siotis put the Lancers up on the board, drilling the ball into the upper right side of the net to cut the Engineers' lead in half.
With eight seven minutes remaining the Lancers had two more opportunities to knot the score up, though, fell short as WPI seized control of the ball in the last two minutes of play.
The Engineers outshot the Lancers 16-6 throughout the entirety of the game, and held the advantage in corner kicks 6-3, all of which came in the first half.
Worcester State's freshman keeper, Henri Guilmette (Franklin, Mass.), registered his first collegiate loss in a two-save performance, while WPI's Connor Hoeckele (Granby, Conn.) marked his second win of the season, also with two saves on the afternoon.
The Lancers will take the week off and match up against Mitchell College next Saturday (Sep. 10) in a 12:00 noon matchup. The Engineers resume play this Wednesday (Sep. 7) when they travel to Framingham State for a non-conference contest.