Lancers Halt Vikings in MASCAC Semi-Finals

SALEM, Mass. – Tonight, Salem State men's soccer looked to punch their ticket to the MASCAC Championship game as they hosted third seeded, Worcester State University. After a hard-fought 90 minutes of action, with the lone and deciding goal coming from Lancer's defender Waseem Mahmoud (Northborough, Mass.) after 62 minutes of play, Worcester State took the 1-0 victory over the Vikings.

The first half was characterized by an aggressive stalemate in which the Vikings and Lancers each accrued six fouls in addition to one and four shots respectively. Luke-Mark Anu (Salem, Massachusetts) attempted to score the Lancers the game's first goal, but his shot was too far left to threaten Vikings goalie Matt Hauntsman (Milford, N.H.) or the score. With eleven ticks off the clock the game remained scoreless after the Vikings had their first shot of the game blocked by a Lancers defender.  The Vikings had their biggest opportunity of the half with 15 seconds left after a Lancer foul gave them a free kick right outside the box, but they were unable to score, sending the game into halftime with zeros on the scoreboard.

The Lancers' offensive proved to be more aggressive to start the second when a header off a corner kick went just wide of the net and out of harms way. Seven minutes into the half, when it looked like the Lancers were about to get on the scoreboard, Hauntsman made a diving save for the Vikings to deny their chance. Shortly after, on the other end, the Vikings applied that same pressure with Brendan Davis (Dracut, Mass.) and Aaron O'toole (Quincy, Mass.) fired off back-to-back shots on the Lancers but were not able to convert. 

Then, the air changed when Taylor Gavaletz (Dudley, Mass.) lofted a ball to the middle of the box and, teammate, Mahmoud was able to fire the ball into the back of the net to give the Lancers the first goal of the game and the slight 1-0 tilt. Two minutes after the lead change, the Vikings attempted two promising shots, but Lancer's keeper Andy Ramirez (Waltham, Mass.) made beautiful saves to keep his team's lead alive. One last push by the Vikings was once again thwarted by Ramirez and with the clock not on the Viking's side as they set up for a final corner the horn sounded to solidify the 1-0 Lancer victory, sending them to the MASCAC championship game this Sunday.