Freshman Legend Mu’min scored the Owls lone goal Wednesday at Alumni Field (WSU File Photo).
WESTFIELD – After surrendering a goal in the third minute of play, the Westfield State Owls men’s soccer team recovered to even the match in the second half before falling, 2-1, to Albertus Magnus College at Alumni Field Wednesday night.
With the loss, Westfield State drops to 0-4-0, while Albertus Magnus improves to 3-0-0.
Albertus Magnus applied the pressure early, with sophomore forward Alex Zapata blasting a hard shot on net 20 seconds into the match, which was swallowed up by Owls goalkeeper Marc Patnaude (North Andover/ North Andover, Mass.).
Patnaude was not so lucky two minutes later, however, when a nice cross from Justyn Broderick (Amity/ Orange, Conn.) led to a point blank shot for Jesse Plona (Trumbull/ Trumbull, Conn.) . Plona pounded a shot directly at Patnaude, who deflected the ball twice before it fell across the goal line.
After turning the tables in the final 25 minutes of the first half without any results, the Owls finally pushed through with a goal in the 48th minute.
Junior forward Joe Pantuosco (Somers/ Somers, Conn.) beat an Albertus defender to a ball along the left sideline, spun and made a touch pass to senior Jack Fisher (Dighton-Rehoboth/ Rehoboth, Mass.), who crossed the ball through to a streaking Legend Mu’min (Central/ Springfield, Mass.) for the equalizer.
Zapata scored the game-winning goal for the Falcons with 22 minutes remaining, crossing into the box and using a hesitation move to lure Patnaude to the turf before flicking a shot past the helpless keeper.
In the 84th minute, Owls sophomore forward Connor Gilbert (Melrose/ Melrose, Mass.) had a scoring chance in the box, but headed the ball over the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Westfield senior Zack Horn nearly tied the match on a long free kick, but Falcons goalkeeper Griffin Volta (Amity/ Orange, Conn.) punched the ball over the crossbar.
Patnaude finished the game with five saves for the Owls, while Volta made three stops in the win for Albertus.
Westfield State returns to action on Saturday, September 12 at Springfield College at 11 a.m.
