Worcester, Mass. - Sophomore Kenny Howard (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored a goal less than two minutes into the contest to spark host Clark University to a 2-0 win over visiting Fitchburg State on Wednesday evening on Granger Field.

The win for the Cougars is their fifth in their first seven games - the exact start they had a season ago when they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 21 seasons. Fitchburg, meanwhile, has gone 0-4-2 in the six matches since their season-opening win over Gordon back on September 1.

Clark was on the attack early in the contest and looked as if they would score even earlier when a header by Mike Trobagis (Acton, Mass.) got past Falcon netminder Matt Carey but hit the crossbar. The ball never left the box and eventually rolled to Howard who banged home his first career goal.

The Cougars were back on the board again less than 20 minutes later when junior Kyle Klapp (Guilderland, N.Y.) set up freshman Gianluca Ranallo (Scarsdale, N.Y.) for his first collegiate tally.

Those two goals would be more than enough for Clark freshman goalkeeper Ryan King (Brimfield, Mass.), who only needed to make one save in order to collect his second career shutout.

The win for Clark was their tenth straight over the Falcons, who they have outscored 32-1 in those ten contests and haven't allowed a goal to FSC in 480:22 dating back to 2004.

Clark returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Cambridge for a 4:30 p.m. meeting with MIT.