The MCLA Men’s Soccer team began MASCAC play this past Friday, September 20th, under the lights at Shewcraft Field. Facing a tall task, the Trailblazers would take on the visiting Framingham State Rams, who had previously defeated MCLA in their last eight matchups.
However, on the contribution of Avery Manzolini’s ‘26 two assists and five different MCLA players scoring, the team pushed themselves to a major 5-1 upset, improving the Trailblazer’s record to 4-3, while the Rams would fall to 0-5-2.
Going into the game, the team only had one thing on their minds; win at all costs.
“Before this game in the locker room, our only goal was to win,” said Jacob Malburg ‘26, “We’ve lost to this team three years straight, and all we wanted to do was to beat this team, and that was the goal and we made sure it happened.”
Right off the bat, MCLA ensured their mission would be accomplished. Only ten minutes into the game, defender Ronan Connors ‘25 made a corner kick, finding midfielder Marcos Lopez ‘25. From there, Lopez found a wide-open midfielder in Jacob Richardson ‘25, who would kick it into the lower left part of the net, and give the Trailblazers an early 1-0 lead.
MCLA scored again just 11 minutes later. Traizen Griffith would aim for the upper right corner of the net but be denied by Framingham State goalie, Tyler Holden. However, the stop would cause the ball to find Malburg and have an easy finish to extend the lead to 2-0.
Malburg’s goal would be his team-leading fourth of the season. Head Coach Adam Hildabrand credits his ability to keep his offensive play simple, allowing him to create that goal opportunity.
“The big thing with Jacob is not letting him get out too wide, because that’s where the wingers can do their damage and he’s gotta be the guy at the end product, which he was in that goal,” he said. “Sometimes he wants to create too much and we try to simplify his game, and he did just that today, he really was awesome.”
After a clear attempt by the Rams, Avani Richardson ‘25 would find himself in the middle and intercept the play. A. Richardson found forward Avery Manzolini ‘26, who dished it out to a wide-open Mateo Phillips ‘27 for an easy chip-in goal to go up 3-0 at the half.
Framingham State would try to change their fortunes by swapping goalies and putting in Michael Walker. Despite the switch, the result continued to remain the same. Only eight minutes into the second half, Phillips tried for his second goal of the game with a shot roughly 10 yards out. Walker made the stop, but the ball found midfielder Kyle Almeida ‘27, who would chip in an easy goal to extend the Trailblazer lead to 4-0.
With 11 minutes left to play, MCLA continued to keep their ‘all gas, no breaks’ mantra going. Luke Muhlenstein ‘27 and Manzolini got the ball out to forward Ethan Smith ‘25, who got by three Framingham defenders and hit a line-drive shot toward the lower right corner, connecting with the net and putting the game out of reach at 5-0.
The Rams were able to get a goal with nine minutes left, as Abdellah Eddabhi scored on a penalty kick to break the shutout. Nonetheless, the Trailblazers would walk away unscathed, and win the ballgame 5-1.
In all, MCLA scored five goals by J. Richardson, Malburg, Phillips, Almeida, and Smith. The latter three out of the five, all scored coming off the bench, something that Hildabrand, in an interview with The Beacon during their win against Lesley, said would need to happen to be competitive within MASCAC play. It was on full display throughout the game.
“They showed really well in training this week,” he said. “Then they got to get a little more playing time and they got the reward of the game with goals. [Manzolini] helped set up all that with his pressure and play too.”
Manzolini’s playmaking would be rewarded as he led the team assists with two, with Griffith, Connors, A. Richardson, Phillips, Lopez, and Muhlenstein each picking up one. Behind the net, Ryan Taylor collected five saves in six attempts, improving his record to 4-3.
On the Framingham side, their lone goal was be scored by Eddabhi, with no assists recorded. At the net, Holden played the first half, collecting four saves in seven attempts and taking the loss to fall to 0-3. Walker played the second half, collecting five saves in seven attempts.
The Trailblazers had the advantage in shots (25 to 16) and corner kicks (6 to 5), while the Rams had the advantage in saves (10 to 5) and fouls (15 to 17).
As they look to extend their winning streak to five, MCLA will continue their season on the road, as they travel to Lyndon, Vermont on Tuesday, September 24, to take on the Vermont State Lyndon Hornets, with kickoff time scheduled for 3:30 PM.
As the team continues to go on their winning ways, they look to remember to take it one game at a time.
“We just gotta think of it like every game is a new game, and every day is a new day, we just gotta continue getting 1% better every single day,” said Malburg.
