MEN'S SOCCER: GNAC Tournament Semifinal Summary
Second-seeded Norwich and top-seeded Saint Joseph's of Maien prevailed on Tuesday evening in the GNAC Semifinals, as the Monks get set to host the title match Saturday at 1PM.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team put together one of the most impressive 90-minute performances in recent memory, thoroughly dominating No. 3 seed seed Johnson & Wales in a 6-0 victory on Tuesday night in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals.
Norwich (14-2-1, 10-1-0 GNAC) knocked off the defending GNAC champions in a big way, scoring three goals in each half to tie its largest margin of victory ever vs. the Wildcats (15-4-0, 10-2-0 GNAC) and punch its ticket to the GNAC Championship game on Saturday vs. No. 1 seed Saint Joseph's (Maine).
Junior forward Joseph Thongsythavong (Salem, Mass.) broke the Norwich single-season goals scored record with his 22nd goal of the season, eclipsing the previous high mark of 21 by Ryan Boyton '09 during the 2008 season.
Senior midfielder Amerle Nemeye (Burlington, Vt.) scored twice, while junior midfielder Hunter Lortie (Manchester, N.H.) tallied a goal and an assist to help lead the offense. Seniors Bienfait Badibanga (Burlington, Vt.) and Alex Brannan(Oneonta, N.Y.) also tallied goals in the victory..
Norwich now advances to its 12th GNAC Championship game appearance. The Cadets are 4-5-2 all-time in the GNAC title game, including five straight runner-up finishes.
St. Joseph's (Maine) has been the chief thorn in Norwich's side, defeating the Cadets three straight times in 2011 (4-1), 2016 (0-0, 4-2 PKs) and 2017 (1-0). Albertus Magnus also defeated Norwich in PKs in 2012, while Johnson & Wales beat the Cadets 3-0 in 2014.
Norwich's last GNAC title came in 2008 with a 2-1 win over St. Joseph's (Maine). The Cadets also won three straight crowns from 1999-2001.
Thongsythavong gave Norwich a 1-0 lead at the 10:58 mark of the game with an unassisted goal for his 22nd of the season. Thongsythavong dispossessed a JWU defender and then streaked in from the right, fending off one more Wildcat defender and then chipping the ball over an oncoming Jacob Friedman from the JWU goal to give the Cadets a lead they would never look back from.
Brannan made it 2-0 in the 21st minute with a low shot to the bottom right corner of the net on a free kick from just outside the penalty box.
Nemeye increased the lead to 3-0 in the 30th minute, running down a flick header from Lortie and burying the ball into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season.
Nemeye scored again in the 49th minute with an impressive curling corner kick that found its way into the far back corner of the net for his second goal of the game and his 15th of the season.
Just under three minutes later Lortie scored his second of the game finishing off a crossing pass from the right by Mamadi Jiana (Chicopee, Mass.) for his second goal of the season.
Badibanga capped the scoring with a sliding tap-in goal off his left foot off a crossing pass from the right by Brayan Ramirez (Scottsdale, Ariz.) to make it 6-0 with his second goal of the season.
Junior goalkeeper Robert Wagenseller (Poway, Calif.) made four saves to pick up his eighth shutout of the season.
Norwich outshot Johnson & Wales 21-12 in the game.
SJC Maine defeated Univ. of St. Joseph (Conn.) 3-1 in its semifinal matchup. The Monks are making their fifth straight GNAC Championship game appearance, winning three in a row from 2016-2018 and then losing to Johnson & Wales in 2019.
The Monks have ended Norwich's season in three of the last four seasons. SJC Maine also beat Norwich 3-2 in the 2019 GNAC Semifinals.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday with the winner earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Norwich is looking to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008.
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications
STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (15-1-2) defeated #5 University of Saint Joseph (12-5-1), 3-1, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Tournament Semifinal at the SJC Athletics Complex on Tuesday night.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:
With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship game and will host #2 Norwich University in the 2021 title bout at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday at 1:00 PM. Norwich blew past #3 Johnson & Wales University, 6-0, in the other semifinal tonight to set up the fifth GNAC Championship game between the Monks and Cadets.
For University of Saint Joseph, tonight's loss signals the end of the 2021 campaign.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks struck first in what was a physical, fast-paced contest, as senior midfielder Jackson Fotter (Gorham, Maine) scored what could be described as the best goal netted by the Royal Blue so far this season. On a throw-in from Jarred Greenleaf(Scarborough, Maine), the ball was headed by senior Kuma Onyejose (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Fotter, roaming near the right goalpost, executed a perfect bicycle kick into the right side of the net nine minutes into play.
The Blue Jays tied the game in the 37th minute, when sophomore forward Dane Stephens (Jamaica) registered his seventh goal of the year on a feed from junior Michael Torres (Hartford, Conn.).
The 1-1 deadlock lasted just six minutes however, as graduate Colin Grant (Harvard, Mass.) potted his team-leading 10th goal of the year on a penalty kick attempt. Sophomore midfielder Icaro Vieira (Westborough, Mass.) was taken down in the box to set up the PK bid and Grant finished with a laser into the right side of the net.
The Monks tacked on an insurance goal at the 55:58 mark when freshman midfielder Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil) cleaned up a loose ball outside the top of the box and kicked a grounder into the bottom left corner for his fourth goal of the season.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's posted an 18-13 lead in shots while University of Saint Joseph held slim leads in shots on goal (8-6) and corner kicks (3-2) in a losing effort.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC graduate David Walbridge (Hampden, Mass.) made seven saves – including several outstanding stops – in the victory while USJ netminder Jose Miguel Garcia Martin posted three saves in the loss.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the triumph, the Monks improve to 4-0-0 in the history of the series with University of Saint Joseph. The Blue Jays' 37th-minute tally was the first goal the Monks allowed to USJ in the history of the matchup. Previously, SJC had outscored USJ by a 10-0 margin in the three meetings combined.