Springfield, Mass. - September 16, 2023 - The Springfield College men's soccer team opened New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play with a 2-0 shutout win at home against Emerson College this afternoon on Brock-Affleck Field.

Springfield now sits at 2-2-1 overall and 1-0-0 in league play, while Emerson dropped its first match of the season and is 3-1-2 in 2023 and 0-1-0 in the NEWMAC.

The Pride earned their second consecutive shutout win and third clean sheet of the season much in part to the play of sophomore keeper Noah Pote (Washington, Conn.), who made six saves today and improved to 2-2-1 between the pipes.

An early penalty kick called in the tenth minute proved to be the difference offensively in the match against Emerson. Senior Chris Cruz (Greenwich, Conn.) lined up and buried his first goal of the season into net for the early 1-0 edge.

Emerson nearly found the equalizer with less than three minutes to play in the opening stanza, but Pote made the save before the ball was cleared off the goal line by the Springfield defense to keep the Lions off the board heading into the break.

The score remained the same until Springfield found an insurance goal in the 78th minute. Pote booted the ball from inside his own box to the foot of classmate Parker Thornton (Malden, Mass.), who awaited at the top of Emerson's box. Thornton took one step and shot the ball into the lower right corner of the net to extend Springfield's lead to 2-0.

The Lions tested Pote with under 20 minutes to play, but stopped all three attempts to earn his third shutout of the year.

Emerson held an 11-8 edge in shots and a 7-5 differential in corner kicks, but it was Springfield which came away with the 2-0 conference win in the league opener for both squads.

Springfield will step out of conference play and host Wesleyan (Conn.) on Tuesday, September 19 at 7:30 pm on Brock-Affleck Field.

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