PHOTO CREDIT: Laurel Clace '25
STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (12-3-3) defeated #8 Regis College (7-11-0), 3-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer tournament quarterfinal held at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:
With the triumph, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC semifinal round for the seventh-consecutive season and will host either #4 Albertus Magnus College or #5 Norwich University on Tuesday at 4:00 PM. Albertus Magnus and Norwich face off tonight in other quarterfinal action at 7:00 PM.
For Regis, the loss signals the end of the 2023 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Senior Will Wood (Franklin, N.H.) opened the scoring with his first goal of the season off a Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil) corner kick in the 14th minute. Wood corralled the feed in the top left corner of the box and drilled a low shot into the bottom right corner for his first tally since he scored in a 4-0 win over Albertus Magnus on October 8th, 2022.
The Monks doubled their lead less than four minutes later when junior Nate Sottak (Belmont, N.H.) cleaned up a rebound in the goalmouth inside the box with a shot to the right side of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Sophomore Joseph Perron (South Portland, Maine) capped the game scoring in the 71st minute when he beat Regis keeper Ethan Donahue (Methuen, Mass.) with a shot to the right section of the goal.
The Pride had a chance to get back into the game late when senior Jeremiah Frias (San Diego, Calif.) was awarded a penalty kick after the Monks committed a handball offense in the box in the 87th minute. SJC junior goalkeeper Liam Foley (Middleton, Mass.) proved to be up to the challenge, however, as the first-year starter dove to his right to make a clean save on the PK bid.
TEAM STATS:
The Monks held the lead in shots (18-10), shots on goal (9-4), and corner kicks (6-2) in the victory.
THE KEEPERS:
Foley made four saves to notch his 10th shutout of the season while Donahue posted six stops in the losing effort for the Pride.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory Saint Joseph's remains undefeated (8-0-0) in the history of the series with Regis College. The Monks defeated the Pride by a 3-1 score earlier this fall.
