Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield College men's soccer team blanked Westfield State, 3-0, in their home opener on Brock-Affleck Field on Saturday afternoon. 

The Pride earned its first win of the season and improved to 1-2-1 , while the Owls dropped to 1-1 on the season.  Springfield controlled much of the game, holding a 15-5 advantage in shots, while the Owls took six of the game's 10 corner kicks.  

Springfield broke into the scoring during the 20th minute of the contest when freshman Aiden Casinghino (Brimfield, Mass.) delivered a terrific centering pass which found Garrett Ossolinski (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) on the backside of the play.  Ossolinski calmly tucked a shot into the top shelf for his first goal of the season, for what would prove to be the game winner. 

Westfield had a couple great scoring chances at the end of the first half, but first-year goalie Qasim El-Ashkar (Salem, Mass.) came up huge in his first collegiate appearance.  In the 42nd minute, Westfield State was awarded a penalty kick, but El-Ashkar made a great move to his left to snuff out the attempt.  Just over 30 seconds later, Nate Weaver blistered a bid from outside the box that El-Ashkar made an outstanding diving save on.

The Pride scored again just six minutes into the second half when Jack Rosenberg (Simsbury, Conn.) struck home a penalty shot.  Springfield was awarded the penalty kick after Ian Macala (Vernon, Conn.) was hauled down in the box after splitting a pair of defenders. Springfield tacked on an insurance goal in the scored again in the 65th minute when Joseph Olaynack (Middletown, R.I.) beat his defender along the end line and made the most of a tough angle by slotting home his first marker of the year. 

El-Ashkar and Chris Prizio (Trumbull, Conn.) combined for three saves to earn the shutout victory.  Westfield's Tyler Diotalevi finished with three saves for the Owls.

Springfield will play for the second time this weekend on Sunday evening when it travels to New Jersey to take on Stevens at 6 pm.