West Conn Tops Owls, 4-1

WESTFIELD, Mass.  – Western Connecticut's Chauncy Allers (Wilton, Conn.) scored a pair of goals to lead the Colonials to a 4-1 non-conference men's soccer win over Westfield State on Tuesday night at Alumni Field.

Westfield State got on the board first when sophomore Luis Nieves (Agawam, Mass.) knocked home the rebound of Ryan Morais' (Uxbridg, Mass.) shot, which was saved by Luca DiCarlo (Holy Cross/Waterbury, Conn.).  But the loose ball bounced to Nieves who lifted a shot with the keeper down to give Westfield a 1-0 lead just three minutes into regulation.

Allers tied the game at 1-1 in the ninth minute with a penalty kick after Owls goalkeeper Griffin Brown (Algonquin/Southborough, Mass.) came out to challenge a Colonials' attack and was deemed to foul in the penalty area.  Allers fired a low shot inside the right post to tie the match.

The two teams were tied into the second half.  West Conn got what proved to be the game winner from Robert Della Penna (Suffield, Conn.), who beat an Owls' defender to the right byline and sizzled a shot short sided into the far netting for a 2-0 lead in the 64^th minute of play.

The Colonials tacked on two more late goals, as Matthew Restrepo (Trumbull/Bridgeport, Conn.) tallied less then a minute later as Della Penna won a loose ball in the left side of the box, and with the keeper out slid it back to Restrepo, who blasted a shot from the top of the penalty area off the cross bar for the goal.

Allers added a breakaway goal as time was expiring for the final 4-1 margin.

Brown finished with 10 saves in the match for Westfield.  Luca DiCarlo (six saves) and Daniel Szabo (Trumbull, Conn.) (two saves) split the game in net for Western.

Western Connecticut improves to 5-1-1 on the season, while Westfield is now 1-4-1.

The Owls will be back in action on Alumni Field on Saturday, hosting MCLA in a MASCAC conference game.