Seahawks earn first-ever win over WNEC, 1-0; move into first-place tie

NEWPORT, R.I. - Junior Sean McAllister (North Arlington, N.J.) scored with five minutes remaining in the first half and sophomore Devin O'Gorman (Canton, Mass.) made four saves to propel the Salve Regina University men's soccer team to its first-ever win over Western New England College, 1-0, in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) action Wednesday afternoon at Reynolds Field.

With the win, the Seahawks (12-3-1, 9-1-1 TCCC) extend their winning streak to six matches and their shutout streak to 485:48. In the process, they moved into a first-place tie with Nichols College (both teams 9-1-1 in the conference) with two matches remaining for each side. Earlier this season, the Bison and Seahawks played to a 1-1 draw in Newport.

The Seahawks outshot the Golden Bears 10-6 in the first half and scored the only goal of the match with five minutes remaining in the frame. McAllister dribbled around a WNEC defender at the left side of the box and drilled a shot into the far right corner of the net. The goal was the 12th of the season for the reigning TCCC Offensive Player of the Week.

Western New England controlled much of the play in the second half, outshooting the Seahawks 9-4. The Golden Bears appeared to tie the game with under four minutes remaining when freshman Ryan Williams (Brewster, N.Y.) snuck through the SRU defense and chipped a shot into the net, but the play was blown off-sides. The visitors had a pair of corner kicks in the final 90 seconds but were unable to poke one past O'Gorman, who improved to 10-2-1 with the win and earned his seventh shutout of 2010. His best save of the afternoon came in the 72nd minute when junior Sean Fitzpatrick (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) launched a shot that O'Gorman tipped over the net to preserve his side's 1-0 lead.

"This is a great win for us against a very, very good opponent," said Seahawks head coach Craig O'Rourke II. "WNEC has been the gold standard in our conference for three years now and they are still an extremely capable side. I think they definitely had more of the possession during the match but I thought we had the more dangerous chances and I just wish we had finished one or two more of them. McAllister showed once again that he is simply lethal with the ball on his foot going at net. Devin O'Gorman really came up big for us today. That was a tremendous save at the end when he tipped their header over the bar to preserve the shutout."

The Golden Bears closed the match with a 15-14 edge in shots. Junior Sean Healey (Portland, Conn.) recorded seven saves in defeat. The two sides combined for 30 fouls and six yellow cards; the Seahawks were tagged with 16 fouls and four of the six cards.

The Seahawks return to action on Saturday when they travel to Beverly, Mass. for a 2:30 p.m. match with Endicott. The Golden Bears (10-5-2, 8-2-1 TCCC) host Curry this Saturday at 11 a.m.