Rams take MASCAC Match-up Against Maritime

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – The Buccaneers hosted Framingham State Friday evening at Clean Harbors Stadium in MASCAC play. With three different goal scorers, and a Maritime own goal, the Rams took the win by the Bay, 4-1.

Maritime had a number of attacks that looked promising as they were able to split the middle on occasion against the Rams Defense. In total, the Bucs got off nine shots, all on target. Forwards Jessica Baldassini (Middleboro, Mass) and Madison Taylor (Longmeadow, Mass) each had three shots in the game. Taylor's third shot was the lone goal for Maritime as she found the back of the net in the 52^nd minute. Senior, Rachel Gardner (Bourne, Mass), normally a defender, played in goal for the third time this season, facing 14 shots and saving 10 of them.

The Rams had three different goal scorers in the contest with Elizabeth Paolucci, Kaleigh Pallotta, and Olivia Mihalek each scoring. In total, Framingham took 23 shots with 14 of them finding the target. In goal, Madison Brown saved seven of the eight Maritime shots.

The first 10 minutes of play were fairly defensive with each team finding their way through the other's back line on occasion. By the looks of the play of the field and the physical nature, it looked like the game would remain scoreless for longer than it did. In the 12^th minute, Paolucci broke the tie on a pass from Casey Good. Just three minutes later, Framingham crossed a ball across the face of goal which a Maritime defended tried to clear out behind the goal but, instead, put the ball in to the back of the net to give the Rams a 2-0 advantage. FSU extended their lead in the 31^st minute as Pallotta netted a shot and Good picked up her second assist of the evening. The score remained 3-0 going in to the break.

The second half started off with a goal five minutes in by the Ram's Mihalek to extend the lead to 4-0. Less than a minute later, Gardner took the ball herself up the left side of the field, dribbled around two defenders and lofted a shot over Brown's head and in to the net from a tight angle to put the Bucs on the Board. For much of the second half, it looked like Maritime would break through the Ram defense again and cut the lead down more but, good defensive and goalie play by the visitors stopped any home of a Maritime comeback as the clock ran out giving the Rams the 4-1 MASCAC victory.

With the loss, Maritime drops to 1-10 on the season, 0-5 in conference. Framingham improves to 4-8 on the year, 3-2 in the MASCAC.

Next up for the Bucs is a trip to Rhode Island College on Monday evening for a 6pm kickoff with the Anchormen.