HENNIKER, N.H. – Plymouth State University was held scoreless by New England College in a 5-0 setback to the Pilgrims in the season opener at Don Melander Field on Wednesday night.
 
The hosts scored three times in a six-minute span in the opening half before adding a pair of goals in the 71st minute to put the game out of reach.
 
Plymouth State opens its season at 0-1-0, while NEC moves to 1-0-0.
 
The Basics:

• Plymouth State 0, New England College 5
  • Plymouth State (0-1-0)
  • New England College (1-0-0)

How it Happened:

• NEC took the lead in the 11th minute when a PSU clear attempt found the foot of graduate student Panagiotis Galatas (Hillsboro, N.H.), who volleyed a shot to the right post.
• The Pilgrims doubled the lead in the 16th minute when sophomore Logan Cassin (Penacook, N.H.) headed in a corner kick to make it 2-0.
• NEC struck again less than a minute later.
• The hosts tacked on a pair of second half tallies to account for the final score.

By the Numbers:

• Sophomore goalkeeper Nicolas Cornejo (Durham, N.H.) made three saves in his first career start.
• Freshmen Ethan Bryce (Seymour, Conn.), John Christie (Pembroke, Mass.) and Filip Banggren (Hagan, Norway) all had shots for the Panthers.

Up Next:

• Plymouth State heads to Maine for a pair of games this weekend. PSU squares off against the University of Maine Farmington on Saturday (Sept. 4, 1:00 p.m.), before closing out the weekend at Husson University on Sunday (Sept. 5, 1:00 p.m.).