Men’s Soccer Opens Tournament Title Defense Versus Worcester

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State men's soccer will begin their MASCAC Tournament title defense tonight from Alumni Field, hosting the sixth-seeded Worcester State Lancers in a first round game at 7:00 P.M.

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The third-seeded Owls enter postseason play after a 5-1-2 conference regular season and a 9-3-4 overall record, tying most wins in a single-season since the 2017 campaign. The Lancers arrive in the playoffs after a 3-5 conference slate and a 5-10-1 season mark.

Last season, Westfield made a run into the NCAA Tournament after securing the MASCAC Championship, defeating Fitchburg State 4-2 in the conference semifinals before shutting out Salem State in the title game, 2-0.

The two sides met in the regular season on October 11 with the Owls tallying the first six goals of the match where they would hold on to a 6-4 win after a chaotic second half. Nick Parakilas (Broad Brook, Conn.) and Dylan Wesley (Agawam, Mass.) both scored twice in the match for the Owls. Worcester forward Jemal Mohamud potted two goals late in the second half. Luke Theroux (Chicopee, Mass.) made seven saves in net for the Owls while the Lancers split the game between Tobias Schneider in the first half and Zach Nelson in the second.

On the season, Parakilas has been a driving force for the offense as his 20 goals ranks second in all of Division III. The senior striker enters the match having notched two or more goals in three of his last five games with the meeting against the Lancers serving as one of them.

Wesley and Carter Hebert (Easthampton, Mass.) have each scored six goals on the season with both players finding the back of the net in the high scoring affair with Worcester.

The Owls ride into the conference tournament with a strong goaltending tandem in Theroux and Marko Kononenko (Kyiv, Ukraine) who have each started in eight games this season. Theroux, last season's MASCAC All-Conference first team netminder, has a 2.73 goals against average this season. Kononenko leads the MASCAC with a .909 save percentage and a 0.56 goals against.

Worcester comes into tonight's match having been winless in their last five matches. However, three of those games were decided by one goal while one other ended in a 1-1 draw against UMass Dartmouth. The Lancers are looking to shake off their road woes on the year, after compiling a 1-6-1 record away from home this season.

The Lancers have nine players with two or more points and eight different goal scorers. Senior midfielder Wilber Garcia leads the unit with three points. The Lancers scored more than one goal once this season, finding success up front versus Westfield in their four-goal output. Worcester has relied mainly on their defense and goalkeepers with Schneider seeing the majority of time in net, making 14 starts with a 1.71 goals against. Schnieder allowed a season-high four goals in the first half versus the Owls but has otherwise been effective, holding opponents to one goal or less in half of his starts.

The winner of tonight's match advances into the MASCAC Semifinals which will be played on Friday. An Owls win sends Westfield to second-seeded Mass. Maritime while a Lancers victory earns them a trip to top-seeded Bridgewater State.