Parakilas Tallies Twice, Owls Pounce on Pride, 3-1

WESTFIELD, Mass.  --     Westfield State's Nick Parakilas (Broad Brook, Conn./E. Windsor HS) scored a pair of goals to lead the Owls to a 3-1 men's soccer win over Regis College at Regis Field in Weston on Wednesday evening.

Westfield improves to 2-1 on the season, while Regis dips to 0-4.

Parakilas got the scoring started just 15 seconds into the match, converting off an assist from Cairn Bright (Belchertown, Mass./Frontier).  The Owls kicked off with a pair of back passes before Bright launched a long looping kick to the top of the penalty area where Parakilas headed it over the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead.

The Owls took a 2-0 lead in the 26^th minute on a goal from Sonny Mazza (E. Longmeadow, Mass.), who won the ball near midfield and then attacked, catching the Pride's keeper well off his line with a long shot.

Regis pressed to get on the board in the second half, finally tallying when Agu Silva-Olivera found the net with a feed from Riley Stogsdill to trim the Westfield lead to 2-1 in the 64^th minute.

Parakilas ended the Pride's comeback attempt with his second goal of the day in the 73^rd minute, running on to a ball flicked on from midfield after goalkeeper Marko Kononenko (Kyiv, Ukraine/Monument Mtn.) had served it out of the back.

Westfield held a 14-11 advantage in shots, and a 5-3 mark in corner kicks.

The Owls got three saves Kononenko.

Westfield will return home to host Fitchburg State in their MASCAC Conference opener on Saturday at noon.