Westfield, MA:  The Cobleskill men's soccer team traveled to Westfield State for the opening game of their 2024 season and fell 3-0 on the road under the lights at Alumni Field.
 
Fighting Tigers picked up solid contributions from defenders Rob Staubitz (East Rockaway, NY) and Charles Agle (Eden, NY) and first year midfielder Devon Zapatka (Oakville, CT) that halted promising Westfield attacks throughout the night.  Second year forward Connor Fancher (Worcester, NY) led the Cobleskill attack with two shots on target. Second year goalie Adam Champlin (South Kortright, NY) had a busy night facing 14 shots and made some big-time saves to keep the Fighting Tigers in the game, he finished with 11 saves on the night.
 
The first half saw a back-and-forth game with chances for both teams. The Fighting Tigers almost broke the deadlock when senior Conor Flanigan (Troy, NY) broke through and forced the Westfield goalie to make a save to keep the game 0-0. Then it was Adam Champlin's turn to came up with several important saves to keep the game at 0-0 as both teams entered halftime.
 
At the half, Westfield edged Cobleskill in shots (11-2) and shots on goal (5-1).  Champlin recorded five saves and Flanigan had the lone shot.
 
Westfield turned up the pressure in the second half and broke the stalemate in the 53rd minute when junior Nicholas Parakilas found the back of the net off a Westfield counterattack.  The Fighting Tigers responded with a few promising counterattacks from Spencer Reisman (Youngstown, NY/Lewiston Porter), but couldn't find the back of the net.  Westfield would press on and score two more goals to put the game out of reach.
 
Westfield held the advantage in shots (25-8) and corners (3-1).
 
Cobleskill is in action next on Sunday, September 1st, as they host Pratt Institute in their home opener at 12:00 p.m. at the Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.