WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – October 10, 2007 -- Despite receiving senior Paul Lepak's (Windsor, Conn.) first tally of the year, the Springfield College men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to Williams on Wednesday at Cole Field.

The loss drops the Pride's record to 5-7-1 on the season while Williams improves to 8-2-1.

Williams netted the first goal of the match just seven minutes in when Mike Darling took a long ball, used some fancy footwork to create space, and fired a vertical strike from point blank range that caught the top of the net.

The Ephs opened up a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute, when Darling's corner kick found the head of classmate Nathan Elwood who guided it past the Pride goalie B.J. Sturdivant (Bear, Del.) and into the net.

Springfield would not go away as it cut the lead to one at the start of the second half. Five minutes into the second stanza, Lepak redirected fellow classmate and midfielder Jay Daglis' (Berlin, Conn.) through ball to the lower right hand corner of the goal. Sturdivant finished with five saves in goal for the Pride. Springfield was outshot in the game, 26-9.

The Pride return to action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to WPI for a conference match. Kick-off is slated for 12:00 p.m.

published: 10/11/2007