SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Family and friends are paying their final respects to a Springfield high school soccer star stabbed to death while trying to break up an argument at a birthday party.

A funeral Mass for Conor Reynolds, 17, is scheduled for Friday at Holy Name Church in the city. Burial will follow in St. Michael's Cemetery.

Authorities said Reynolds was stabbed in the neck while acting as a peacemaker at the party attended by more than 200 people last weekend at the Blue Fusion Bar and Grill.

Reynolds was a senior who played soccer at Cathedral High School and was drawing interest from college programs.

Twenty-year-old Eric Denson has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer says police have the wrong man.