Men’s Soccer Advances to Third-Straight NECC Championship Game with Semifinal Win Over Lesley

NORTH QUINCY, Mass.- The top-seeded Eastern Nazarene College men's soccer team defeated No. 4 seed Lesley 5-0 Wednesday evening at Creedon Field in the New England Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinals to punch its ticket to the NECC Tournament championship match for the third year in a row.

THE BASICS:
Score: Eastern Nazarene 5, Lesley 0
Records: Lions (7-6-5) | Lynx (0-14-0)


HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Eastern Nazarene grabbed a 1-0 edge in the 41st minute. Rookie Clide Neau (Easton, Mass.) netted his team-leading eighth goal of the season off of an assist from Rafael Romero (Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain).
• The Lions doubled their advantage to 2-0 in the final minute of the first frame. Mattia Zuin (Mexico City, Mexico) notched his fifth tally of the year while Neau picked up his seventh assist.
• The home side tacked on its third score of the match to widen the margin to 3-0 in the 51st minute. Zuin pounced on a loose ball to knock in his sixth marker of the fall and second of the night.
• Eastern Nazarene stretched the gap to 4-0 in the 54th minute. Junior Olivier (Caracas, Venezuela) bagged his first career goal, volleying home a corner kick delivered by Joaquin Ferraro (Seville, Spain).
• The Lions added a goal in the 60th minute to push their lead to 5-0. Emilio Magdon (Mexico City, Mexico) lasered a long-range, right-footed shot into the back of the net to collect his second marker of the season.
  

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Antonio Soto Valente (Maracaibo, Venezuela) registered one save between the pipes to post his fifth-consecutive shutout.
• Eastern Nazarene racked up 36 shot attempts on the night and eight corner kicks.
• Lesley was limited to just two shots and one corner kick in the contest.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The top-seeded Lions will host No. 2 seed New England College in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Tournament championship November 5.