Men’s Soccer Falls to New England College in NECC Finals, 3-1

WEYMOUTH, Mass.- The top-seeded Eastern Nazarene College men's soccer team dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 2 seed New England College Sunday afternoon at Mullin Field in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Tournament finals.

The Lions conclude the campaign with a 13-7-1 overall record. The Pilgrims clinch their first-ever NECC championship and improve to 9-6-2 on the year with the win and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

Eastern Nazarene's Leonardo Castro (Katy, Texas), Michael Frotscher (Tramin, Italy), Guillermo Garcia (Leon, Spain), and Bryan Vargas (San Jose, Costa Rica) were all selected to the All-Tournament team.

The visitors snagged a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Cooper Ribaudo rifled a left-footed shot into the bottom corner of the cage from outside the box to net his first goal of the season while Logan Cassin picked up the assist.

The home team equalized in the 20th minute to level the match at 1-1. Castro chased down a bouncing ball and headed in his sixth tally of the fall as Junior Olivier (Caracas, Venezuela) registered his first helper.

The two squads played to a 1-1 stalemate in the first half as Eastern Nazarene fired three shots and New England College attempted seven.

New England College reclaimed a one-goal advantage in the 74th minute as Panagiotis Galatas lasered in his fourth marker of the season with a right-footed blast from the top of the box.

The Lions nearly tied the score in the 75th minute but Jorge Gonzalez (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) saw his headed effort ricochet off the crossbar.

The Pilgrims tacked on their third goal in the final seconds of the contest to widen the margin to 3-1. Wiskins Flavill converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute to bag his sixth tally.

Flavill was named NECC Tournament MVP while Santiago Duarte, Tucker Stenger, and Ribaudo joined him on the All-Tournament team.

Eastern Nazarene registered six shots on the afternoon while New England College produced 15 attempts.

Senior goalkeeper Tyler Ferreira (Berkley, Mass.) posted three saves between the pipes for the Lions.