Nichols hosts Endicott in CCC Quarterfinal match Saturday
DUDLEY, Mass. - The Nichols College men's soccer team has earned the No. 3 seed in the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship and will entertain No. 6 seed Endicott College on Saturday, November 2nd at 1:00 p.m. at Michael J. Vendetti Field.
The Bison are making their sixth-consecutive CCC postseason appearance and seventh overall under ninth-year men's head soccer coach Chris Traina. They finished the 2013 regular season with an 11-1-5 overall mark and a 6-1-2 record in conference matches.
Senior Scott Palmerino (Southbridge, Mass.) leads Nichols with eight goals and 19 points; he currently ranks sixth among CCC men's soccer student-athletes in both categories. Palmerino and sophomore Tiago Prazeres (West Hartford, Conn.) are tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with three. Senior Fred Willard (Webster, Mass.) currently leads the Bison and is fifth in the CCC with five assists on the season. The senior is also second on the team in goals (four) and points (13).
On the defensive side of the ball, junior Jeremy Nash (West Springfield, Mass.) owns a 10-1-4 record with a 0.82 goals against average (GAA) (fifth in CCC) and an .852 save percentage (sixth in CCC). Sophomore Francesco Chiaravalloti (Torrington, Conn.) appeared in a pair of matches and went 1-0-1. He did not give up a goal in 200:00 minutes of action.
Endicott (9-9-0, 4-5-0 CCC) is led by junior Abdulla Al khalifa (Riffa, Bahrain) and freshman Edwin Demoya (Salem, Mass.) with 18 and 11 points, respectively. Al khalifa is tied for the team lead in assists (four) with senior Brett Longobucco (Torrington, Conn.) and sophomore Sebastian Rozo (Stamford, Conn.). Sophomore Austin Peluso (Farmington, Conn.) started in all 18 matches in goal for the Gulls. He currently ranks seventh in the conference with a 0.98 GAA and eighth with a .844 save percentage.
Nichols has advanced to the title match in four of the last five years – including three-straight (2010-12). In 2010, the Bison defeated Gordon on penalty kicks to capture their first conference title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Bison were blanked 2-0 at Salve Regina in the finals.
"I really didn't focus much on earning a home match or home field advantage or anything of that nature when the season began," said Traina. "Early on, I just worried about making sure we were getting the job done on the field both tactically and technically. At the midway point, I began to look at the standings and see where we might fall. Last week was the first time I set a goal to finish in the top four. We always have a great crowd at our matches and we have a lot of student-athletes with postseason experience."
Earlier this season, the Bison defeated the Gulls 2-0 behind goals from Willard and junior Michael Perry (Plainville, Mass.). Nash stopped all six shots he faced en route to his ninth win of the season and fourth shutout.
The other quarterfinal matchups on Saturday include No. 1 Gordon (17-1-0, 8-1-0 CCC) hosting No. 8 Wentworth (2-14-1, 2-6-1 CCC) at 11 a.m., No. 2 Western New England (12-4-3, 6-1-1 CCC) entertaining No. 7 Curry (7-7-4, 2-4-3 CCC) at noon, and defending conference champion No. 4 Salve Regina (9-7-2, 5-3-1 CCC) playing No. 5 Roger Williams (14-4-1, 4-4-1 CCC) at noon at Reynolds Field.
