Box Score FITCHBURG, Mass. – Sophomores Xavier Doran (Hebron) and JD Stearns (Bolton) scored less than nine minutes apart in the first half and the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team went on to its seventh shutout of the year, 4-0, in a non-conference match with Fitchburg State University.
Ranked No. 6 in New England, Eastern (11-2-1) has won five of its last six and defeated Fitchburg (5-7-0) for the tenth straight time. The Falcons won last year's Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASAC) playoff championship and lost a first-round match in the NCAA tournament.
Doran scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season in the 21
st minute and Stearns followed with his third of the year in the 30
th minute. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Doran scored on freshman
Justin Jensen's
(Wethersfield) fifth goal of the year, and Jensen set up freshman
Kevin Zeppieri's (Waterford) first career goal with 14 minutes left.
Freshmen keepers
Ryan Murphy (Cromwell) and
Brendan West (Plainville) combined on the shutout. Murphy made three saves over the first 79 minutes.
Eastern returns to Little East Conference action Saturday at the University of Southern Maine at 2:30 p.m.
