After winning their respective semifinal contests on Friday night, the Bridgewater State Bears and Framingham State Rams will face off Sunday at Noon to determine the MASCAC Men's Soccer Tournament Champion and which team receives the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament.

Framingham State 1, Worcester State 0 Box Score

Framingham, Mass.- The Framingham State University men's soccer team used a penalty kick in the 77^th minute to send the Rams over Worcester State 1-0 and into the championship game of the 2015 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Sunday, November 8^th.

The Rams will face Bridgewater State at Noon in the championship game. 

The contests lone goal came after a Lancers player was called for a hand-ball in the box to award the Rams a penalty kick. Senior Cory Cardeiro (Fall River, Mass.) sent his attempt inside the left post to give the Rams the lead they would not relinquish.

The Lancers came out firing early in the contest but Rams junior keeper Josh Arno (Natick, Mass.) made three diving saves in the first ten minutes of the contest to keep Worcester off the board.

Arno made nine saves in the contest while is counterpart Jason Barrett (Spencer, Mass.) made 6 saves in the loss for the Lancers.

Worcester took nine corners in the contest, including three consecutive attempts in the final minutes, but could not generate a quality chance.

Worcester State sees their season close at 6-10-2 while the Rams look to capture the MASCAC title and automatic-bid into the NCAA Tournament with a win on Sunday. 

Bridgewater State 2, Westfield State 0 Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Player of the Year Conor Murtagh (Walpole, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist to the lead the fifth-seeded Bridgewater State University men's soccer team to a 2-0 shutout victory over top-seeded Westfield State University in a MASCAC Tournament semifinal round game on Friday evening at Alumni Field.

Bridgewater State advances to the MASCAC championship game on Sunday afternoon on the road at No. 2 Framingham State University. Framingham defeated Worcester State University, 1-0, in the other semifinal matchup on a penalty kick goal in the 77th minute.

Murtagh, who led the MASCAC in goals and points this season, broke open a 0-0 tie with an assist in the 75th minute. The senior forward sped down the left sideline, burst through the Owls back line and into the box, luring sophomore goalkeeper Alex Kraver (West Springfield, Mass.) out of the goal area before feeding senior forward Andrew Chenard (Kingston, Mass.) for an easy goal.

Less than a minute later, the 6-foot-3 Murtagh headed home a perfectly-placed, 35-yard free kick from junior defender Jonathan Pires (Medford, Mass.), out-leaping the Owls defenders to give the Bears a 2-0 lead and send his team to the championship match.

With his three points, Murtagh moved into fifth place on the Bears' all-time scoring list. Murtagh now has 67 points (29G, 9A) in four seasons at BSU.

Before Murtagh broke open the game, the two teams were engaged in a physical, back-and-forth contest. Bridgewater State outshot Westfield State 25-11, but just 10-7 in the second half.

In the early going, the Owls struggled to contain the speed and creative ball-handling of Bears' freshman forward Filipe Gomes (Boston, Mass.) and Murtagh's size in the box, but Kraver was able to keep the Bears off the scoreboard.

Kraver made eight saves in the match, including six in the first half.

Westfield State had a few chances to strike first midway through the second half, but couldn't beat Bears junior goalkeeper Colin Jepson (Sandwich, Mass.).

With 24 minutes remaining, Owls junior midfielder Joe Pantuosco (Somers, Conn.) found senior forward Kevin Bengle (West Springfield, Mass.) in open space in the box off a corner kick, but Bengle's bicycle kick drifted wide of the net.

Jepson made three saves to record his 12th shutout of the season and school record 16th win.

Bridgewater State improves to 16-3-1 overall as the Bears set the program single-season record for wins.

Courtesy of Bridgewater State and Framingham State Sports Information