NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University defense held Franklin and Marshall College to 12 shots and only four on target, but the Wolves were beaten, 1-0, by the Diplomats on a second-half penalty kick in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Tournament on Connecticut College's Tempel Green this afternoon.  WestConn ends the year with a 15-5-3 record with its second NCAA loss to Franklin and Marshall in its last three trips to the tournament.  The Diplomats improve to 10-2-7 and will face the host Connecticut College Camels in the NCAA Second Round tomorrow at 1 p.m. Junior goalkeeper Zachary Benson (Derby, Conn.) made three saves for the Wolves.

Scoring chances were scarce in the first half with each goalie needing to make just one save to keep the game scoreless at intermission.  Freshman Nickolas Santana (New Haven, Conn.) forced F&M goalkeeper Nolan Booth to make a save in the 14th minute for the first shot-on-goal of the game.  Benson made a stop against Nic Petruso in the 18th minute on the only other shot-on-goal before halftime.

Early in the second half, Adam Green was tackled in the box and the Diplomats were awarded a penalty kick that Connor Anderko put past Benson into the lower left corner of the net in the 49th minute.  Junior Kamal Sabar (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and graduate student Zachary Tuccitto (Clinton, Conn.) both forced Booth to make save in the second half, while Benson turned away consecutive bids by Koa Kaliebe and Oscar Horwitz of the Diplomats in the 80th minute.  WestConn nearly tied the game in the final moments but a Booth barely stopped a high bouncer on a Wolves corner kick.