By Jim Fenton

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team halted a three-game losing streak on Friday night.

The Bears scored a pair of second-half goals less than two minutes apart and defeated the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 3-2, at Shewcraft Field.

unior Nicholas Ribeiro (Bellingham, Mass.) assisted on one of the goals and scored the other in the second half.

BSU improved to 3-4 and is 2-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Trailblazers fall to 2-5 and 1-1 in the conference with their third loss in a row.

BSU trailed, 1-0, before evening the game before halftime, then scored the first two goals of the second half and held off MCLA for the road win.

The Trailblazers had a 1-0 lead when freshman Gustavo de Oliveira (Pittsfield, Mass.) scored the first of his two goals at 30:08.

de Oliveira scored on a direct kick from 25 yards away, placing a shot into the top right corner.

The Bears came right back and tied it at 31:58 when freshman Cameron Walty (Weymouth, Mass.) scored his first collegiate goal from senior Gavin Norton (Rockland, Mass.).

A header attempt by Norton hit the crossbar, and Walty headed in the rebound just under the crossbar.

The game remained 1-1 for nearly 25 minutes before senior Filippo Mucci (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) scored at 56:31 from Ribeiro.

Mucci took a short pass from Ribeiro and sent a left-footed shot inside the far post from 10 yards out.

Then, at 58:06, Ribeiro gave the Bears a 3-1 lead with junior Tyler Chang (Acushnet, Mass.) assisting.

A crossing pass by Chang was sent into the right side of the net by Ribeiro from 15 yards out.

The Trailblazers got within a goal at 58:55 when de Oliveira scored from freshman Kyle Cardoso (Pittsfield, Mass.).

A cross by Cardoso found deOliveira, who scored on a header that just eluded a BSU defender.

Bears junior Kyle Sullivan (Enfield, Conn.) made four saves.

Trailblazers junior Oliver Le Lacheur (Medford, Mass.) had 12 saves.

BSU held a 34-9 advantage in shots and 15-6 in shots on goal.

The Bears are home Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a non-conference game against Emerson.

MCLA is idle until Sept. 27 when it plays   at Worcester State at 2 p.m.