Johnson & Wales Men's Soccer Captures Second Straight GNAC Championship, 3-0, Over Norwich

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications

Wildcats secure second straight
GNAC crown, receive auto NCAA bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Senior Kyle Metz (St. James, N.Y.) scored the game-winner and added anassist to lead top-seeded Johnson & Wales University to their second consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Championship with a 3-0 victory second-seedd over Norwich University at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon. 

Sophomore Xavier Carty (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) was named the Most Valuable Player of the championship.

"It was a great team effort," said Johnson & Wales head coach David Kulik. "The team showed great energy and executed in the second half and that was the difference."

Johnson & Wales controlled the action early and held the 11-1 lead in shots and the 2-0 advantage in corner kicks in the first half.  Metz had five shots with Carty taking three shots in the stanza.  The Wildcats couldn't capitalize however as the first half ended in a scoreless tie.

JWU wasted little time in the second half to take the lead as senior Doug Kase (Clifton, N.J.) sent a through ball to junior Marcos Mendez (Brewster, Wash.).  Mendez then carried the ball to the 18 yard box and fed a pass to Metz.  Metz blasted in a shot from 10 yards out to score his sixth goal of the season to give the Wildcats the 1-0 lead. 

JWU extended their lead to 2-0 in the 60th minute when Kase headed in a throw in from Metz from 10 yards out.  The Wildcats capped off the scoring for the day as Kase started a breakaway and sent a pass to senior O'kyle Corridon (Selden, N.Y.) who put a shot through the goalkeeper's legs from 15 yards out to propel the Wildcats to the 3-0 victory and their second straight GNAC Championship.  JWU held a commanding 22-3 advantage in shot and an 11-0 lead in corner kicks in the victory.

Senior Ryan Dzierzawski (Oakland, Mich.) notched his 11th shutout of the season for Johnson & Wales, extending his scoreless streak of 650:54 minutes in eight games, allowing just a penalty shot in the 3-1 win over Anna Maria on October 11.  Senior Christian Hallstrom (Las Vegas, Nev.) notched three stops for Norwich in the setback.

With the victory Johnson & Wales is now 15-5-1 on the season while Norwich falls to 13-6-2 for the year. Earns the conference's bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.  The field for the tournament will be announced on Monday, November 10 (1:30 p.m.) at NCAA.com.

MSOC: @JWUathleticsPVD wins the 2014 #theGNAC Men's Soccer title with a 3-0 victory! pic.twitter.com/PUqNKl4pUe

— GNAC (@TheGNAC) November 8, 2014

All-Tournament Team
Xavier Carty, Johnson & Wales
Ryan Dzierzawski, Johnson & Wales
Kyle Metz, Johnson & Wales
Ray Durski, Johnson & Wales
Doug Kase, Johnson & Wales
Conor Fitzgerald, Lasell
Eddie Roman, Lasell
Dakota Howell, Mount Ida
Luke Pugsley, Mount Ida
Chris Bristol, Norwich
Christian Albrecht, Norwich
DJ Spears, Norwich 

Tournament MVP - Xavier Carty, Johnson & Wales

Quarterfinals – Fri-Sat, Oct. 31-Nov. 1 | RECAP
Match 1: #1 Johnson & Wales 2, #8 Saint Joseph's (ME) 0 | BOX
Match 2: #5 Mount Ida 2, #4 Albertus Magnus 1 | BOX
Match 3: #3 Lasell 5, #6 Emmanuel 3 | BOX
Match 4: #2 Norwich 6, #7 Suffolk 2 | BOX

Semifinals – Tuesday, November 4 | RECAP
Match 5: #1 Johnson & Wales 1, #5 Mount Ida 0 | BOX
Match 6: #2 Norwich 4, #3 Lasell 2 | BOX

Championship – Saturday, November 8
Match 7: #1 Johnson & Wales 3, #2 Norwich 0 | BOX

– #theGNAC –