The MCLA Men’s Soccer team was firing on all cylinders in their Wednesday night out-of-conference matchup against Lesley University. Three different Trailblazers would score goals, and outside of a last-minute goal, the defense maintained the Lynx offense throughout the game, holding them to just 12 shots with only 5 on goal.
With the win, MCLA improves to a 2-3 record (now 3-3), while Lesley falls to 0-4 (now 1-5).
“A win like that brings so much momentum to our team, mainly due to the chemistry that we have this year,” said Ryan Taylor ‘25, who would go 4 for 5 in save opportunities and help his case in winning MASCAC Defensive Player of the Week. “I think we’re really playing like a family, and that is what’s giving us these wins, and it is just inspiring us more and more to play with each other and play as a team and represent MCLA in the best way possible.”
Right out of the gate, the Trailblazer offense would have the Lynx defense on their toes, with two early shots on goal by Traizen Griffith ‘27. Each team would trade shots back and forth throughout the first period, but MCLA would pull out an early offensive lead, getting 15 shots compared to Lesley’s 4 in the first period. Late in the period, Avani Richardson ‘25 would connect to the back of the net for his first goal of the season and give MCLA an early 1-0 lead, which they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
The second period soon became a case of deja vu for the Trailblazers, as they managed to pick up three more shots within the first 12 minutes. After coming up short on his first five shot attempts, Griffith, who would win the MASCAC Offensive Player of the Week Award, would create an open lane and found the net for his second goal of the season extending MCLA’s lead to 2-0.
Despite the success on both ends of the field, head coach Adam Hildabrand says that it was not the initial game plan of attack. Nonetheless, he gave credit to the team for making adjustments on the fly, particularly in how they were pressing the offense and defense and sticking to what was working.
“The initial game plan kind of went out the window of luring [Lesley] in, bait them, and then press them,” he said. “But sometimes when you do that, you just allow them to come at you and you never actually press. We wanted to back off and allow them to play in, but we would back them and they would literally walk it into our half, but then when we just started pressing, I think that’s when things really started happening.”
“Traizan’s goal was all about pressing, and Kyle Almeida ‘28, his sheer work rate defensively and offensively just makes things happen, so that was the initial plan, but we adjusted the plan, and I think that helped us a lot when we started pressing more.”
The pressing on both sides of the ball continued working wonders for the Trailblazers, limiting the Lynx to just four shots before Almeida would find a wide-open Jacob Malburg ‘26 just under the nine-minute mark to score the 3rd MCLA goal of the game to make it 3-0. Lesley’s Marc Kenny Durac would score a late goal on the assist by Miguel Vasconcelos with just under two minutes left to play, but it would be too little, too late, as the Trailblazers walked away with a 3-1 victory, as well as earning their first home win of the season.
Versatility was on full display for MCLA, with three different players in Richardson, Griffith, and Malburg scoring goals, along with players coming off the bench such as Almeida, who managed to earn the lone Trailblazer assist of the night. Other standout performances came from Ethan Smith ‘25, Mateo Phillips ‘27, Brandon Balcazer ‘28, and Luke Muhlestein ‘28, who contributed on both ends of the field as well.
Hildabrand believes that with such versatile and talented bench players, they could start for other teams. He also believes they will be key for the Trailblazers as the season goes on, especially once conference play in the MASCAC gets underway.
“The MASCAC games are hard, so to bring guys on that are different and it’s not a drop-off, like Smith and Almeida and Phillips and Balcazer and Muhlestein, those are all great players off the bench that really could be starters,” he said.
MCLA would lead Lesley in shots (28 to 12) and corner kicks (4 to 2), while tying in saves with four apiece, and the Lynx had the advantage in fouls (6 to 11). Taylor would earn the win at net improving his record to 2-2 (now 3-2), while Lesley’s goalie, Aiden Hendricks, would take the loss and fall to 0-2 (now 0-3).
After earning a win on the road against SUNY Cobleskill to improve to 3-3, the Trailblazers continue their season at an under-the-lights game at home on Friday, September 20 at 6:00 PM. They will begin MASCAC play with the visiting Framingham State University Rams, coming to Shewcraft Field.
For Taylor, as the season goes on, the key to continuing the success is short but sweet.
“We gotta keep playing how we’re playing,” he said. “We gotta work hard, play together, and be one team and one family.”
