By Laura Soukkavong –
WORCESTER, Mass. — The final score will say Montclair State dominated WPI on Saturday afternoon. Four goals against none usually leaves little room for interpretation, but the numbers from H. Carr Field at Alumni Stadium reveal something more instructive about the Engineers’ first loss of the season.
WPI created opportunities. The Engineers took 11 shots, put five on goal and forced Montclair State goalkeeper George Kostis Jr. to work throughout his collegiate debut. What WPI couldn’t do was turn those opportunities into goals, while Montclair State repeatedly made the Engineers pay when its chances arrived.
That difference produced a 4-0 victory for the Red Hawks, who scored twice within 2 minutes, 48 seconds midway through the first half and added two more goals from set pieces after halftime. WPI dropped to 0-1-1 after opening the season Tuesday with a scoreless draw against Endicott, while Montclair State improved to 1-1.
Montclair State established the early pressure before WPI could settle into the afternoon. Tyler Diaz sent a right-footed attempt off a defender and out for a corner in the seventh minute, and Kevin Contreras followed about 90 seconds later with a shot that WPI goalkeeper Savio Ketnouvong collected.
The Engineers survived those first threats, but Montclair State’s pressure finally produced something in the 22nd minute. Tyler Diaz chipped a ball from just beyond midfield over WPI’s back line toward Tomas Monteiro, beginning a sequence that quickly exposed the Engineers.
Tomas Monteiro flicked the ball back toward Ivan Garcia, who controlled it and immediately fired a left-footed shot past Savio Ketnouvong. The Red Hawks had the first goal, but the greater damage was still coming because WPI never had an opportunity to completely recover from it.
Only 2 minutes, 48 seconds later, Montclair State struck again. Tyler Diaz settled the ball for Ivan Garcia near the edge of the box, Garcia floated a left-footed service into the area, and Tomas Monteiro headed it into the top-right corner for a 2-0 advantage.
The two goals demonstrated just how quickly a competitive soccer match can change. WPI had gone more than 20 minutes without conceding, but in less than three minutes the Engineers found themselves chasing a two-goal deficit against a Montclair State side that had already shown an ability to generate pressure.
WPI’s response before halftime was not insignificant. The Engineers finished the opening 45 minutes with six shots and put three of them on goal, giving themselves opportunities to cut into the deficit before the break and potentially alter the direction of the match.
George Kostis Jr. wouldn’t allow it. Making his collegiate debut for Montclair State, he stopped all three first-half shots on goal and protected the two-goal advantage that his teammates had created.
That was one of the important differences Saturday. WPI wasn’t completely deprived of opportunities, but every promising attempt ended without a goal. Montclair State, meanwhile, had already converted two of its chances and entered halftime with control of the match.
For the Engineers, the beginning of the second half presented a simple challenge. Finding one goal could have reduced the deficit to one and forced Montclair State to protect a much narrower advantage, but WPI never found the breakthrough it needed.
Instead, Montclair State made the deficit larger in the 65th minute. Carlos Bedoya curled a free kick from near the end line, and Kyle Moore redirected the service past Savio Ketnouvong to extend the Red Hawks’ lead to 3-0.
That third goal was particularly damaging because it came from a set piece rather than the open-play combinations that had produced Montclair State’s first two goals. WPI now had to deal with a three-goal deficit and a Red Hawks attack that had demonstrated more than one way to score.
Less than nine minutes later, another set piece produced another goal. Logan Neno delivered a free kick toward the far post, where Thomas Pugliese headed the ball into the bottom-right corner at 72:51 to make it 4-0.
The progression of Montclair State’s four goals told much of the story. The first two came through combinations involving Tyler Diaz, Ivan Garcia and Tomas Monteiro, while the final two were created by free-kick service and finished inside the area.
WPI continued attacking despite the four-goal deficit. Adin Pezo put a shot on frame in the 75th minute, while Jakub Bielecki and Liam Ireland each generated attempts later in the half as the Engineers continued searching for their first goal of the season.
George Kostis Jr. stopped Adin Pezo in the 75th minute and denied Liam Ireland in the 89th. Those saves completed a five-save shutout in Kostis’ collegiate debut and ensured that WPI’s offensive frustration extended through another 90 minutes.
Michael Montabana led the Engineers with two shots. Adin Pezo, Liam Laidlaw, Geronimo Barroso, Anir AitDowd and Liam Ireland each put a shot on goal, while Savio Ketnouvong finished with six saves at the other end.
The statistics illustrate why WPI can look beyond the 4-0 score for a clearer understanding of what went wrong. Montclair State held a 16-11 advantage in shots and a 10-5 edge in shots on goal, meaningful advantages but not numbers suggesting that WPI spent the entire afternoon unable to generate an attack.
The Red Hawks were considerably more dangerous when those opportunities mattered. They converted four of their 10 shots on goal, while WPI came away empty on all five of its attempts on target.
Montclair State also controlled the corner-kick count, 7-2, and the Red Hawks’ second-half success on free kicks showed how costly dead-ball situations could become for the Engineers. A 2-0 halftime deficit became 4-0 through two goals created from set pieces in a span of less than nine minutes.
For WPI, there is now an early-season offensive question to answer. The Engineers battled Endicott to a scoreless draw Tuesday and were held without a goal again Saturday, leaving them scoreless through their first two matches despite producing opportunities against Montclair State.
The encouraging part is that WPI did create chances Saturday. Eleven shots and five attempts on goal provide something to build upon, but creating chances and finishing them are two very different parts of the game, and through two matches the finishing touch has been missing.
There is little time for the Engineers to dwell on what happened against Montclair State. WPI returns to the field Sunday and travels to Springfield for a 2 p.m. match against Western New England, giving the Engineers an immediate opportunity to respond to their first defeat.
Montclair State returns home Monday to face Brooklyn College at 7 p.m. at MSU Soccer Park. The Red Hawks leave Worcester with their first victory of the season and a performance that showed the value of making opportunities count.
WPI leaves with a much different lesson. The Engineers weren’t without chances, and they weren’t without fight, but Montclair State was sharper when the game reached its decisive moments.
On Saturday, that was the separation between the two teams. WPI created enough opportunities to threaten, but Montclair State converted the opportunities that changed the match, protected its own goal when WPI answered and turned a three-minute first-half burst into a convincing 4-0 victory.
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