Padilla Scores Lone Framingham State Goal in Home Opener Loss

By Danielle Achin

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FRAMINGHAM – The Framingham State men’s soccer team faced off against Clark University in an intense home opener on Wednesday afternoon, but lost 2-1 to the Cougars.

The late summer weather made for a perfect game day for the 330member squad to take the field.

Although half of the team being newcomers and underclassmen, this was only Framingham State’s first defeat of the season making their overall record an even 1-1-1.

“We’re doing alright even though we’re 1-1-1, and we’re just working through things right now,” Head Coach Dean Nichols said.

Even after the second goal just 5 minutes into the second half and knowing they were down 2-0, the team’s energy never slacked.

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Junior Sherak Ayamga praised his team for the aggression and momentum kept throughout the entire game, showing they are a “cohesive group.”

In The 86th minute, Framingham High product Gabriel Padilla scored off a beautiful cross from Josh Monteiro to put the Rams on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately, the Rams never scored again and Clark won 2-1.

Despite the aggravating loss, it only seemed to spark the team’s drive to better execute against
future opponents.

Ayamga said, “we just have to lock in from the start, we can’t wait until the score is 2-0 to start playing.”

“We have to start playing from the jump and have that attack mindset because if we wait and try to battle back, it’s not going to work,” he added.

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Head coach Nichols said there is only room for improvement for the rest of the season. “If we work together as a team, and get better every game, we think the results will be there in the end.”

The Rams will battle Eastern Connecticut State University next on Saturday, September 10 starting at 2 p.m. back on the home turf Maple Street Athletic Field.

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Danielle Achin is a fall 2022 SOURCE intern. She is a senior English major with a concentration in journalism and a minor in psychology at Framingham State University. Danielle has been an athlete since she started gymnastics at age 4. She joined the Framingham State cheerleading team freshman year and recently won the 2022 National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) National Championship for the first time in Framingham State history. She is also one of the Sports editors for Framingham State’s student newspaper The Gatepost.

Photos by Danielle Achin

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