FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Second-seeded Norwich University topped third-seeded Johnson & Wales University, 2-0, on Tuesday night while top-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine handled fourth-seeded Suffolk University, 5-1, to set the stage for this weekend's GNAC title match. Saint Joseph's will host the Cadets on 1:00 PM this Saturday afternoon at Westerlea Way Field in Standish, Maine.
#1 SAINT JOSEPH'S 5, #4 SUFFOLK 1
STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (15-1-4, 8-0-1 GNAC) handled #4 Suffolk University (9-10-0, 6-3-0 GNAC), 5-1, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Semifinal at Westerlea Way Field on Tuesday afternoon.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship game for the fourth time in the last eight seasons and will host #2 Norwich University at Westerlea Way Field on Saturday afternoon, kick-off 1:00 PM.
THE LEAD
Saint Joseph's all but put the game out of reach in the first 10 minutes of play, as freshman Noah Robinson (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) scored off a Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine) pass at the 6:13 mark and junior Trevor Lopes (Cumberland, R.I.) made it a 2-0 game with his fourth tally of the year, off a Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.) feed, four minutes later.
The 2-0 advantage remained until the 58th minute when freshman midfielder JoJo Strobino(Clifton, N.J.) potted an unassisted marker and junior Daniel Fox (South Portland, Maine) and sophomore Jesse Ramirez (Dumont, N.J.) tacked on insurance goals in the 72nd and 82nd minutes, respectively.
The Rams, denied by SJC sophomore keeper Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.) on a pair of close range shots in the second stanza, finally found the board in the 88th minute when senior forwardAlberto Bittan (Venezuela) took advantage of a defensive lapse and slipped a shot far post past sophomore Zack Moody (Steep Falls, Maine), who entered the game in place of Mullen just minutes earlier.
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's held advantages in shots (19-13), shots on goal (9-5), and corner kicks (10-3) on the afternoon.
THE KEEPERS
For the Monks, Mullen tallied three stops in 83:49 between the pipes while Moody allowed a goal and made one save in 6:11 of mop-up duty. Suffolk freshman netminder Jon Brodeur(Northampton, Mass.) posted three saves in the losing effort.
NOTEWORTHY
- Elliott picked up two assists, with helpers on the Robinson and Ramirez tallies, in the victory while sophomore Karitkeya Swarup (Delhi, India) was credited with an assist on the Fox goal at the 71:22 mark
- Suffolk senior defender Alex Ypsilantis (Belmont, Mass.) earned the assist on Bittan's strike after feeding his classmate with a long pass down the left sideline
- Bittan led all players with nine shots, including three on target, on the afternoon
- With the victory, Saint Joseph's sets a new program record for wins in a season - previously the Monks had reached the 14 victory plateau in 2009 and 2011, and won the GNAC Championship in each of those seasons
- The Suffolk goal brought to a close the Monks' eight-game shutout streak, which spanned a total of 868 minutes and 16 seconds dating back to October 1st when St. Joe's allowed an own goal in a 2-1 triumph over Johnson & Wales
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 7-4-1 in the history of the series with Suffolk University, a team the Monks defeated by a 1-0 score on October 19th.
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.
#2 NORWICH 2, #3 JWU 0
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team dethroned the three-time defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion Johnson & Wales with a 2-0 victory in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday night on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.
The No. 2-seeded Cadets (12-4-3) avenged having their season ended the last two years at Johnson & Wales (11-5-4) to advance to their fourth GNAC final in the last six seasons.
Seniors Jacob Zimmerman (Litchfield, N.H.) and Moab Schiers (South Weber, Utah) each scored goals to lead the Norwich offense, while senior goalkeeper Billy Whaley (Northfield, Vt.) set a new single game career-high with 10 saves to record his ninth shutout of the season.
After a scoreless first half, Zimmerman needed just 17 seconds to break the tie at the start of the second half as he ran down a long ball over the top by Matt Mazzola (Ridgefield, Conn.), evaded the JWU goalkeeper and buried a shot with authority into the back of a wide open net to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead. The goal was Zimmerman's 14th of the season and 53rd of his career, which tied him with Drew Dilley '09 for second all-time in NU men's soccer program history.
Whaley and the Norwich defense dug its heels in from there as JWU through everything at the net in attempt to find the equalizer. The Wildcats outshot Norwich 20-7 in the second half. But Whaley was up to the task every time, posting six saves in the second half to preserve the victory.
Whaley's best save of the game came in the 63rd minute when he robbed Tucker MacPherson on a side volley from 12 yards out with a sprawling save to knock the ball away and then a NU defender cleared away the rebound.
Norwich added an insurance tally with 10 seconds left when Moab Schiers tucked a shot inside the left post off a great play by Alec Brigante(Colchester, Vt.) to win the ball forward off a throw in.
Johnson & Wales outshot Norwich 29-9 for the game and had four corner kicks to the Cadets' one.
Norwich will look for its fifth GNAC Tournament title on Saturday, Nov. 5 when it travels to top-seeded Saint Joseph's (Maine) for the 2016 GNAC Championship. Game time is 1:00 PM. The game will be a rematch of the 2011 GNAC title game that Saint Joseph's (Maine) won 4-1.
Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications.