EAST BOSTON – The second seeded Suffolk men's soccer team won their first Conference of New England Championship over fifth seeded Roger Williams thanks to penalty kicks Saturday afternoon at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park.
Behind Brady Sorensen's 73rd-minute goal, which was assisted by Tommy Handelsman, Suffolk tied the conference championship at 1-all, to force the extra sessions, which went scoreless to force penalty kicks to decide the champion.
Nathan Harlow commanded the net through 110 minutes, while Mateu Farre-Torres took over defending the Rams' goal post for the shootout.
Senior Taj Jensen, sophomore Luke Blawn and grad student Dan Colbert made their PKs, while Farre-Torres blocked three out of the five to seal Suffolk's championship fate.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Roger Williams 1
Shootout: 3-2, Suffolk
RECORDS: Suffolk (10-6-5) | Roger Williams (11-7-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Five minutes into the second half, Suffolk attempted to clear its zone and Roger Williams intercepted the ball and went back towards the Rams net. John Foggarty slipped a go-ahead pass to Liam Blaisdell, who beat a pair of Suffolk defenders and left kicked the ball past a Harlow to give the Hawks a one-goal lead.
As time dwindled, Suffolk picked up the pace and attempted to level the playing field. Sorensen had a prime opportunity in the 73rd minute. The fifth-year senior set-up a give-and-go with Jack Phelps and immediately sent a shot on target when he received the pass back. The shot hit the post and Suffolk remained scoreless.
Four minutes later the game-tying goal came and Sorensen was responsible for scoring it. Tommy Handelsman lofted a long throw in towards the Hawks net and Sorensen leapt up to head it away and make it 1-1 with just over 13:12 minute remaining in regulation.
Harlow had a save in the first OT and Eliot Panaccionne made a highlight-reel save in the second set of extra 10 minutes to keep things even after 110 minutes of championship soccer.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Harlow had 10 saves in the draw.
- Farre-Torres turned aside three out of the five penalty kicks in the shootout.
- Panaccione stopped three shots in the decision for Roger Williams.
- Hogan Cain, who started for the Hawks, made two saves.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Sorensen scored Suffolk's lone goal.
- Handelsman assisted on the game-tying strike.
- The Rams outshot Roger Williams, 18-15, but the Hawks held the advantage in shots on target, 11-6.
- RWU took eight corners compared to Suffolk's three.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Rams won their first CNE Championship.
- The conference championship is the second in program history for men's soccer, first since it won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title in 2010.
- The Rams played in the CNE Championship (formerly CCC) for the second time and second time in three years.
- Suffolk wrapped up its 22nd overall conference postseason appearance, fourth in the CNE and first-ever as the second seed.
- Suffolk hosted its ninth postseason championship game, first conference championship.
- As the home team, the Rams are 5-2-2 in a conference tournament tilt, including an unbeaten, 2-0-2 mark in CNE (former CCC) tenure.
- Suffolk is now 3-2-3 in the CNE postseason.
- The Rams are 3-2-3 in the postseason in the Bill Maddock era.
- Suffolk has needed extra time to determine a winner in a league postseason game five times including this afternoon's clash.
- The Rams are 1-1-3 in OT outings in the playoffs.
- Three CNE postseason contests have gone into overtime in Suffolk's history, all ended in stalemates.
- Suffolk went into a PK shootout for the third time in the playoffs first since the 2023 semifinals.
- The Rams have advanced via PKs twice including this afternoon's game, first since the 2022 quarterfinals versus Salve Regina, Oct. 29, 2022, a 5-4 shootout win.
- Both of Suffolk's PK shootout wins have come on Suffolk's home pitch.
- Suffolk and Roger Williams met in the postseason for the second time.
- Both of the postseason meetings between Suffolk and Roger Williams have come in the conference championship contest.
- The Rams and Hawks went into overtime for the first time.
- The last three meetings between Suffolk and Roger Williams have ended via draws.
- Suffolk is now 0-4-3 all-time against the Hawks including a 0-1-1 record in the postseason.
- Sorensen scored his first goal of the season.
- Harlow had 10 saves for the second straight game, a personal-best for the sophomore. For his effort he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
- Handlesman had his third helper of the year.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk clinched the league's automatic berth to the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship. The Rams will find out their tournament fate during the selection show Monday, Nov. 11 at 1:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
