NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – In a 20-year span beginning in the mid-1970s, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts – known then as North Adams State College – under the direction of former coach Ron Shewcraft -- owned the men's soccer series with Eastern Connecticut State University.
 
Since Mass College won16 of the 20 meetings in that span, however, the series has tilted decidedly in favor of the Warriors, who improved their record to 9-2-1 in the last 12 encounters with the Trailblazers in a 2-1 non-conference decision in the penultimate game of the regular season for both teams Tuesday at Ron Shewcraft Field.
 
In a match that was not as close as the final score indicated Tueday, Eastern (10-5-2) outshot Mass College (5-9-1) 18-5 (10-2 in the second half) and out-cornered the Trailblazers, 10-0, and went on to improve its road record this year to 6-1-2 (the loss coming, 1-0, at defending national champion Connecticut College three weeks ago).
 
The team's bid for a fifth straight shutout of Mass College and the first full one for junior keeper Dylan Palanck (Willington) this year failed to materialize when junior Gabe Dias of MCLA converted a penalty kick that was awarded on an inadvertent hand ball in the box following a deflected shot. The PK tied the match less than five minutes after first-year midfielder Niall O'Brien (Guilford) had given Eastern a 1-0 boost with his fifth goal of the season off senior defender Larson Richards' (Mansfield) 11^th career assist.
 
Returning recently from injury, first-year forward Cayden Bouks (Mansfield) recorded his first career goal off of sophomore forward Sean Cafferty's (Clinton) fifth assist of the year 15 minutes into the second half that guaranteed the Warriors of their 13^th 10-win season in 15 non-Covid years under head coach Greg DeVito. The victory also moved DeVito to within six of career win No. 200.
 
Making his first start in five weeks because of injury, Pallanck was called upon for only one save in recording his first win of the year against two ties and three losses.
 
Defending Little East Conference regular-season and playoff champion Eastern brings a 5-2-0 conference mark into the regular-season LEC final Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (2-10-4, 1-5-1 LEC). A winner of three straight and four of its last five against UMass, Eastern guaranteed itself of the No. 3 tournament seed after defeating Plymouth State University, 3-1 at home Saturday for its fourth straight conference win.
 
The third-seeded Warriors will host the playoff's No. 6 seed next Tuesday at a time not yet determined.