Pruchnik, Murphy Combine For Five Saves As Men's Soccer Falls To Salem State

Pruchnik, Murphy Combine For Five Saves As Men's Soccer Falls To Salem State

MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME MEN’S SOCCER

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Clean Harbors Stadium, Buzzards Bay, Mass.

 

FINAL:              SALEM STATE 5, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 0

                                                                                   

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Mayele Malango (Lowell, Mass.) scored a pair of goals and added an assist for five points to lead Salem State to a 5-0 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s soccer victory over Massachusetts Maritime Sunday afternoon at Clean Harbors Stadium.

 

The visiting Vikings (4-2, 2-0 MASCAC) struck for three goals in a 2:06 span to take control of the contest in its early stages, as senior Aaron Esparza’s (Dover, N.H.) direct kick conversion in the 13th minute was followed by markers from freshman Nahuel Aligbay (Leominster, Mass.) and sophomore Ryan Smith (Shelton, Conn.) that came 67 seconds apart.  Malango then converted a pair of Aligbay feeds on his two tallies that came 59 seconds apart early in the second half to close out the scoring, as Salem State ended a five-match losing streak in the series between the two teams that dated back to 2013.

 

Smith added an assist on Aligbay’s goal to finish with three points for the winners, as sophomore Chris Jimenez (Nashua, N.H.) picked up his fourth win in goal by making a pair of saves in 78-plus minutes of play for the Vikings, who also received three stops in the final 11-plus minutes from junior Gus Savage (Georgetown, Mass.).  Senior Mike Pruchnik (Rochester, Mass.) made three first half saves in the setback for the host Buccaneers (2-5, 1-1 MASCAC), who received a pair of stops after intermission from junior Connor Murphy (Mashpee, Mass.).  Salem State outshot Massachusetts Maritime by a 16-14 margin overall (10-5 on goal) and held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks for the contest.

 

Massachusetts Maritime hosts Salve Regina in a non-league outing on Wednesday evening at Clean Harbors Stadium beginning at 7:00 p.m., while Salem State heads to Willimantic, Conn. on Tuesday afternoon to square off with Eastern Connecticut in a non-league match that begins at 4:00 p.m.