Men's Soccer Defeats Mitchell During Senior Day, Secures Top Seed in GNAC Playoffs

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's soccer team secured the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Playoffs, thrashing intrastate foe Mitchell College (MC), 5-0, Tuesday afternoon at the USJ Soccer Field in West Hartford, Conn. Prior to the opening kickoff, the Blue Jays held a special ceremony, honoring seniors Jin Chen (Shanghai, China) and Joseph Fineboy (Minneapolis, Minn.) during a Senior Day Ceremony. With the result, the Blue Jays improved to 11-4-3 on the year and 10-1-3 in GNAC play, while the Mariners concluded their campaign at 2-15-1 overall and 2-12-0 in the GNAC.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• After a slow start to the match, the Blue Jays would gain the lead at the 24 minute mark, as freshman midfielder Justin Cardinale (Wolcott, Conn.) muscled off defenders inside the box, before firing a shot into the lower left corner to establish a 1-0 USJ lead.
• USJ quickly increased the gap to 2-0, as Cardinale turned provider, finding senior forward Dane Stephens (Linstead, Jamaica) on the left wing, before Stephens drove towards the net and rifling a shot into the goal at the 27:17 mark. The score would hold entering the halftime break.
• The Mariners would be brought down to 10 men early in the second half, as Sean Khan was shown a straight red card at the 47:04 mark.
• The Blue Jays continued to control the game while playing a man-up, extending the lead to 3-0 at the 61:26 mark. Stephens would pick out a pass to freshman midfielder Elis Sulollari (Cheshire, Conn.), who guided the ball into the net for his first career goal.
• Sulollari wasted little time netting his second career goal, finding the back of the net again at the 62:08 mark, after a one touch passing combination from freshman midfielder Landon Coelho (Naugatuck, Conn.) and Cardinale.
• Freshman forward Damir Cirikovic (Southington, Conn.) would increase the gap to 5-0 at the 76:40 mark, pressing high up the field and winning the ball off the MC defense and slotting the ball past the visitors goalkeeper.
• Mitchell tried to go home with a consolation goal, but freshman goalkeeper Aidan Peterson (Cheshire, Conn.), who played the final 16 minuets of the game, produced a pair of excellent saves to preserve the shutout, and the win for USJ, 5-0.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Stephens netted his eighth goal, while Cirikovic tallied his seventh and Cardinale notched his fourth.
• Coelho dished out his team-leading fifth assist.
• Freshman goalkeeper Will Slayton (Manchester, Conn.) got the start in goal, playing 74 minutes to pick up the win (8-1-3).
• The victory earned the Blue Jays the No. 1 overall seed in the GNAC playoffs for the first time in program history.

UP NEXT

The top-seeded Blue Jays begin the 2024 GNAC Playoffs with a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, November 2 in West Hartford. USJ will await the winner of the No. 8 versus No. 9 First Round match.

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