EAST BOSTON – It was a case of déjà vu Wednesday night at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park as Suffolk men's soccer and Western New England played to a 1-0 decision for the second time this season.  

This time though a ticket to the 2024 Conference of New England Championship was on the line and the second-seeded Rams came out on top when it mattered most, defeating the third-seeded Golden Bears via shutout fashion in the league semifinals. 

Edward Abouzeid scored the lone goal on the night, while, Nathan Harlow stood tall in goal for the shutout. 

The victory not only sends the blue-and-gold to the conference championship for the second time in three seasons, but avenges last season's heartbreaking semifinals shootout setback to the Golden Bears in Springfield, Massachusetts.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Western New England 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (10-6-4) | Western New England (9-9-4)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk had a couple edge-of-your-seat shots in the first frame. First, Ford Lee sent Luke Blawn on a break away, but no one else ran ahead with the sophomore and the Golden Bears defense limited the Rams from getting a shot off. Towars the latter portion of the opening half, TJ Maselek had a prime header opportunity off a perfect throw in by Tommy Handelsman, but the attempt went just wide.  

The Golden Bears, meanwhile, had two good chances of their own. First Keegan Reim took a free kick from just outside the box. Thankfully for the blue-and-gold, the shot was blocked by Suffolk's defense. With seconds remaining before halftime, WNE got a pair of shots off. Tyler Lewis' went just high and Adam Saleh's hit the cross bar to send the teams into the locker room scoreless. 

Harlow came up big in the 62nd minute. Jayden Montagna's initial shot was blocked by the blue-and-gold defense. Matt Spruill picked up the pieces and quickly fired on target. Suffolk's sophomore keeper made a leaping glove punching save to keep it a 0-0 game.  

Four minutes later, Miguel Varela lofted a go-ahead ball to a sprinting Blawn. The Ram ran down the pitch with three WNE defenders and drew Roger Leland out of position. Leland made contact with Blawn and got a yellow card that gave Suffolk earned a free kick in front of the Golden Bears cage. Taj Jensen's attempt flew wide right and things remained scoreless. 

That changed 2:26 seconds later. On a clear from Suffolk's zone, Dominica Rinaldi dribbled the ball up the right side line, forwarded a pass to Blawn, who one touched a pass for a waiting Abouzeid at the left 15-yard line. Suffolk's senior powered a high kick to the opposite side of the cage that was out of the reach of a diving Leland to push the Rams on the board in the 68th minute. 

From there it was clock maintenance, stand-up defense and three crucial saves by Harlow in the final six minutes that preserved Suffolk's semifinal victory.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Harlow had 10 saves in the shutout. 
• Leland logged four stops in the setback. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Abouzeid produced the lone goal of the night. 
• Blawn and Rinaldi each recorded one assist apiece. 
• Western New England outshot Suffolk, 26-15 and held an edge in shots on target, 10-5. 
• Both teams took two corner kicks.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk hosted a league semifinal contest for the first time in program history. 
• The Rams competed in a conference postseason as the second seed for the first time.
• Suffolk is in the midst of its 22nd conference postseason appearance, fourth in the CNE (formerly CCC). 
• The blue-and-gold played in the league semifinal for the sixth time and third consecutive season. 
• Suffolk is now 3-2-1 in the conference semis and 2-0-1 when playing in the CNE semis. 
• The Rams advance to the conference championship for the third time, second in the CNE and first since 2022.
• The win is Suffolk's third-ever in a league's semifinals first since it upset top-seeded Endicott, 2-0, in the 2022 CCC Tournament.
• Two of Suffolk's three semifinal wins have come in shutout fashion. 
• The Rams hosted their eighth conference postseason contest.
• As the home team the Rams are 5-2-1 in a conference tournament, including an unbeaten 2-0-1 mark in the current CNE (former CCC) tenure. 
• Including tonight's victory, 18 of Suffolk's 29 postseason games have come via shutouts. The Rams are 5-13-0 in shutouts in conference postseason matches. 
• At home, the Rams are 3-1-0 in postseason cleansheets. 
• Tonight's outcome is the first shutout in the postseason since Suffolk blanked ENidcott, 1-0, in the first round a year ago. 
• With tonight's outcome, four of Suffolk's CNE posteason games have been detmerined via shutouts. 
• The Rams are 3-1-0 when a team is kept off the scoreboard in the CNE tournament. 
• The Rams are 3-2-2 in the postseason in the Bill Maddock era. 
• Suffolk coupled back-to-back wins over Western New England together for the first time in the all-time series dating back to 2002. 
• The Rams are now 3-8-1 against WNE since 2002. 
• Seven matches between the Rams and Golden Bears resulted in shutouts. Suffolk is 3-4 in those obuts. 
• Eght contests have been decided by a one-goal margin. The Rams eveneded that catoegry tonight at 4-4-0. 
• Suffolk is now 2-3-1 versus WNE under Maddock's guidance. 
• At home, Suffolk is 3-3-0 against Western New England. 
• The Rams and Golden Bears tangled in the CNE postseason for the second time and second straight season with both matches taking place in the semifinals. 
• Suffolk took down WNE in the postseason for the first time. 
• The Rams are now 1-1-1 in the postseason versus WNE. 
• Abouzeid scored his third goal of the year and first game-winner of his collegiate career.
• Blawn and Rinaldi both registered their third assists of the season.  
• Harlow had his seventh shutout of the season.
• Suffolk reached the 10-win mark for the third consecutive campaign.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk will host the 2024 CNE Championship against fifth-seed Roger Williams Saturday, Nov. 9 at East Boston Memorial Park at 12:00 p.m.