FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seeds held true on Saturday afternoon in the 2016 GNAC Men's Soccer Tournament Quarterfinals, as the top-four teams advanced into Tuesday's conference semifinals. Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine will host fourth-seeded Suffolk University (time TBD) and third-seeded Johnson & Wales University will travel to second-seeded Norwich University at 7:00 PM.

#1 SAINT JOSEPH'S 4, #8 MOUNT IDA 0
PORTLAND, Maine – Junior forward Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine) scored three goals to help lift top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (14-1-4, 8-0-1 GNAC) past #8 Mount Ida College (5-10-3, 2-6-1 GNAC), 4-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Tournament Quarterfinal on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Deering Memorial Stadium.

THE LEAD
Bell scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 32nd minute with a one-timed header strike, to the top left corner of the net, off a terrific pass from freshman defender Noah Robinson (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) and tacked on two more goals just 1:26 apart later in the game to complete the hat-trick performance.

With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances in the GNAC Tournament and will host #4 Suffolk University in a conference semifinal on Tuesday afternoon, start time TBD. The Rams blanked #5 Albertus Magnus College, 2-0, in other quarterfinal action this afternoon.

For Mount Ida, the loss signals the end of the 2016 campaign.

TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's dominated the stat sheet, outshooting Mount Ida by a 36-3 margin – including a 19-0 shots on goal advantage – with a 9-4 lead in corner kicks.

THE KEEPERS
Mount Ida junior Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.) kept his team in the game for the better part of the afternoon and made 15 saves in a losing effort. Saint Joseph's sophomore Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.) was untested in registering his team-record 12th shutout of the season.

NOTEWORTHY

• The Mustangs clung to the 1-0 deficit until the 74:37 mark, when senior Nicholas Borowski (Webster, Mass.) potted his third marker of the season off a Trevor Lopes (Cumberland, R.I.) pass
• Bell scored his second goal at the 80:30 timestamp and capped his first collegiate hat trick with another unassisted strike at the 81:56 mark
• In setting up the Monks' first goal, Robinson chased down a lead pass from senior Sean Baker (Medfield, Mass.) down the left sideline and unleashed a perfect odd-angle feed, just before the ball hit the end line, to the far post where Bell finished the play with a header
• Both teams had a shot clang off the crossbar in the tourney match, as sophomore Mitchell Cyr (Rochester, N.H.) found iron at the 17:37 mark and Mount Ida senior Tyler Grothusen (Ramsey, N.J.) hit the pipe in the 79th minute
• With the victory, Saint Joseph's extends the program-record undefeated streak to 17 games
• The Monks have now pitched eight-consecutive shutouts and have not allowed an opponent to score in the last 13 games (the 10/1 JWU goal was an own goal)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 7-4-0 in the history of the series with Mount Ida College, a team the Monks defeated by a 1-0 margin earlier this season (9/28). Four goals is the most the Monks have ever scored versus the Mustangs.

SENIOR MOMENT
Prior to the start of the match, the Monks held a brief ceremony to honor the program's two seniors: Sean Baker and Nicholas Borowski, a duo that has helped Saint Joseph's post a 40-31-6 (.563) record over the last four seasons. 

Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.

#2 NORWICH 4, #7 RIVIER 1
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament semifinals for the 13th straight year with a 4-1 win over Rivier University on Saturday afternoon. 

Senior forward Jacob Zimmerman (PICTURED, Litchfield, N.H.) recorded his fifth career hat trick to lead the Cadets to the victory. Junior Bryan Mazzola (Ridgefield, Conn.) also scored for Norwich to account for the offense. 

Zimmerman scored at the 9:46 mark of the first half finishing off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with Alex Arvizo (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Carlos Guerra (Mission, Texas). 

Guerra sent a through ball to Arvizo who was making a run down the left side of the field. Arvizo collected the pass and fired a centering pass to Zimmerman who lunged and tapped the ball past Rivier starting goalie Collin Deyarmin for his 11^th goal of the season and 50^th of his career. 

Zimmerman pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 32^nd minute by burying a shot into the right corner of the net with his left foot off a pass from Dashiell Vermilya (Montpelier, Vt.)for his second of the game and the 51^st of his career, which gave him sole possession of third place on the NU all-time scoring list, passing Sani Siric '05. 

Norwich extended its lead to 4-0 with two goals late in the second half. Zimmerman scored the first one after he chased down a ball that got behind the Rivier back line after a battle in the air. Zimmerman slipped the ball over a sprawled out Deyarmin who was coming out to challenge, but couldn't get a hand on it. 

Mazzola made it 4-0 in the 82^nd minute finishing off a beautiful through-ball pass fromAlec Brigante (Colchester, Vt.). 

Rivier did get one back in the 86^th minute with Alex Armstrong scoring his team-leading seventh goal of the season on a free kick from just outside the top of the 18, beating senior goalkeeper Billy Whaley (Northfield, Vt.) to the right corner of the net. Armstrong's goal snapped a 745:15 consecutive shutout minute streak that Whaley and the NU defense had accumulated. The last time Norwich gave up a goal was Sept. 27 in a 3-2 overtime loss to Plymouth State. 

Norwich improved to 11-4-3 on the season and will now host three-time defending GNAC champion Johnson & Wales on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.

Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications.

#3 JWU 3, #6 EMMANUEL 0
PROVIDENCE, RI – Defense has led the Johnson & Wales University men's soccer team to the last three GNAC Tournament championships. That formula has remained the same this year as the Wildcats started their quest for their fourth-straight crown with a 3-0 win over Emmanuel on Saturday.

Records:
Emmanuel: 8-9-2
Johnson & Wales: 10-4-4

Statistical Leaders:
Tucker MacPherson (JWU): 2 Goals, 1 Assist
Jason Cruz (JWU): 1 Goal

Of Note:
Johnson & Wales is on the road for the GNAC Semifinals. The Wildcats travel to Norwich on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

After missing most of the year with an injury, sophomore Tucker MacPherson (Raymond, NH) returned to the line-up in a big way. He scored a pair of goals and assisted on a third. His first goal was a header off the crossing pass from Andrew Vecere (Wayne, NJ) with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

JWU put the game out of reach with a pair of goals 48 seconds apart. MacPherson collected a deflection and scored at the 64:41 mark of the second half. His pass in front of the goal found Jason Cruz (Providence, RI) and he tapped it in for his team-high tying sixth goal of the year.

The Wildcats defense was stifling as Travis Cole had the Saints only shot on goal, which JWU goalkeeper Jon Robbins (Berkley Heights, NJ) turned away for his fourth shutout. The Wildcats had a 19-6 advantage in shots on goal. Emmanuel rookie goalkeeper Jonathan Ferrarini (Hanover, Mass.) made eight saves.

Next Game:
Johnson & Wales and Norwich played to a 3-3 tie in their regular season meeting. The game started with Xavier Carty setting a NCAA record as he scored just three seconds into the game. The season comes to a close for the Saints who wrap the year with an 8-9-2 mark under first year Head Coach Dan Roberts.

Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications.

#4 SUFFOLK 2, #5 ALBERTUS MAGNUS 0
EAST BOSTON – Jordan Casey secured the Suffolk men's soccer team's GNAC semifinal bound fate with a career-day as the sophomore netted a pair of goals to lift the fourth-seeded Rams over No. 5  Albertus Magnus, 2-0, in the conference quarterfinals at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park Saturday afternoon. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2, Albertus Magnus 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (9-9-0) | Albertus Magnus (9-8-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Casey put the rock in the netting once each half and the Rams' defense held off eight attempts from the Falcons to lock up the win and advance to the semis. 

GOALS

• Nearly half the time was removed from the clock before the scoring got going. Aaron Haggas sent an attempt in, but was turned away by Albertus Magnus' Joe Russo. Casey picked up the rebound and Russo's gloves couldn't make the grab as the East Hampton, Connecticut, local's fourth goal of the season made it a 1-0 Suffolk game at 28:06.
• The Rams maintained the 1-0 lead for the majority of the contest and stretched it to a two-goal game in the 80th minute. A fumble inside the Falcons box confused the visiting defense and Casey was able to pick up a feed from Jarrett Davis, scoring his fifth tally of the season.

KEEPING UP WITH THE KEEPERS

• Jon Brodeur was a crucial ingredient to Suffolk's success as the freshman turned away all eight of the Falcons attempts for the shutout, his fourth of the season. Brodeur improved to 6-5-0 in between the pipes with the cleansheet.
• Russo made nine saves and allowed two goals to slip to 9-8-1 in net on the year. 

NOTEABLES

• Suffolk advances to the semifinals for just the third time in program history and first since 2010.
• The quarterfinals win over the Falcons marks the first time since meeting Albertus in the conference tournament's first round that the Rams came out victorious.
• Casey contributed a career-high two goal effort.
• The shutout marks Suffolk's fifth of the 2016 campaign, which is the most for the Rams since blanking six opponents in 2004.

Courtesy of Suffolk Athletics Communications.