DANBURY, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University Wolves and the visiting Western New England University Golden Bears played to a scoreless draw in the men's soccer season opener for both teams this afternoon at Westside Stadium. WestConn, playing its first game on its new turf surface, will host SUNY Farmingdale next on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Golden Bears will host Thomas College on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. WestConn doubled up the Golden Bears with a 14-to-7 shooting edge and had four corner kicks to one for the visitors.
The offenses started slowly, as WestConn rookie
Rodrigo Lancho (Hartford, Conn.) took the first shot-on-goal of the game in the 34th minute. Kareem Awkal took a pair of shots moments later for Western New England but the first was off target and the second was stopped by Wolves sophomore goalie
Makai Smith (Bridgeport, Conn.). Smith the second of his two saves with under a minute remaining in the first half on a bid by Western New England's Junior Beyoko.
In the 74th minute, the Golden Bears were forced to play with 10 players when Owen Dieterle was issued his second yellow card WestConn senior midfielder
Aidan Roxo (Danbury, Conn.) fired a left-footed shot 1:17 later that was stopped by Western New England goalie Brendan L'Italien. WestConn fired off six shots in the final 10 minutes but only one was on target. L'Italien made his fourth save on a shot by Wolves junior
Demani Gordon (Bronx, N.Y.), and Gordon also just missed from close in the final minute.
