Bridgewater, MA --- The fourth seeded Bridgewater State posted a 2-1 victory over #4 Worcester State in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 MASCAC Men's Soccer Tournament this afternoon at Swenson Field.
The host Bears improve to 9-8-1 on the season with the win and will now advance to the tournament semifinals. Bridgewater State will take on top-seeded Salem State University on Friday night at 7 PM.
Worcester State ends the season with an overall mark of 4-11-2. It marks the seventh setback this campaign for the Blue and Gold that has been decided by one goal.
The two squads meet in the conference tournament for the first time since the 2004 season as the Bears are 2-3 all-time versus WSU in tournament play.
Junior Craig Shadduck (Braintree, MA) opened the scoring for the hosts in the 24th minute as he scored off his own rebound with a shot from the right side of the six yard-line.
Leading 1-0 at the intermission, the Bears took a two-goal lead just 1:10 into the second half as senior Tucker Fairbanks (Plympton, MA) notched his first goal of the season. Stationed near the goal line, Fairbanks headed in the rebound of a classmate Jose DePina (Boston, MA/Burke) shot.
The Blue and Gold cut the deficit to 2-1 as junior Brendan Whitson (Auburn, MA) scored on a breakaway in the 65th minute off a long through ball sent in by third-year teammate Alex Wolfel (Unionville, CT).
In the final 25 minutes of the contest the Lancers would notch a 3-2 edge in shots, but the Bears defense did a great job of not allowing a quality shot on net for the remainder of the game.
For the match, the Bears outshot Worcester State by a margin of 20-9 (9-4 on goal) while corner kicks were even at 2-2.
BSU junior netminder Matt Bagley (Braintree, MA) turned aside three shots to record his ninth win of the season. Freshman Tim Schmidt (Southwick, MA) made seven saves between the pipes for the visitors.
With his dish this evening, Wolfel is now alone in 10th place on WSU's All-Time scoring list with 46 points. Whitson is two points off the 25 point club as he wraps up his year with 23 points in his first season as a Lancer (8 goals - 5 assists).
Major Portions of Release Courtesy of Bridgewater State Sports Information