BY KELLY LEWICKI // Oct. 22, 2017 //

A physical second half had the Curry men’s soccer team seeing yellow in their 1-0 loss to Western New England University on Saturday evening.

As the clock ran down in the first half, it was looking like the first 45 minutes of play weren’t going to produce any action. Both teams had even possession of the ball, but neither could capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

But with less than a minute left, sophomore midfielder Ty Champagne booted one in to put the Golden Bears up 1-0 going into the half.

“Goal at the end, unlucky obviously,” said Curry’s senior goaltender Adam Dibrina. “But it was a good strike. Not much I could really do about it.”

A fire was lit inside Dibrina, who produced four saves in the second half. No matter how close WNE got, they could not penetrate the goal line, even sending two open net shots just wide of the posts.

Despite their goalie’s efforts defending the backfield, the Colonels could not create scoring opportunities, and their frustration started to show. The physicality of the half escalated, so much so that four yellow cards were issued.

Three of those went to Dave Stapleton, Ari Mench, and Mitchell Forbes of Curry.

When asked to comment on the calls, Forbes responded with, “It was a physical game. The [referee] called what he wanted to call. Can’t really go back on it now.”

As time expired, the Colonels remained scoreless, dropping the game to the #1 seed Golden Bears, now 11-5-1 overall and 6-1-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play.

“I already said to the guys, all we gotta do is put this one behind us. Honestly, I think it might have been our best game in conference of the entire year,” said Dibrina on the team’s mindset to finish out their season strong.

The Colonels dropped to 8-10-1 (2-6 in conference) and will be traveling to Wentworth on Tuesday for their final game of the season, hoping to snap their now four game skid.

• Dibrina registered six saves on the night
• Curry has been shut out in their last four games
• 8th in the CCC, the Colonels must win on Tuesday to make playoffs