Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Before the start of Saturday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular season finale against Rivier at Howard Field, the Norwich men's soccer team honored its two seniors, Ryan Robertson (Northfield, Vt.) and Adam Ploof (Colchester, Vt.).
The two seniors then responded by leading the Cadets to their best offensive showing of the season in a 6-0 rout of the Raiders. The win helped clinch Norwich the No. 4 seed in the GNAC Tournament and a home quarterfinal match against No. 5 Lasell next Sunday after the Lasers lost to Albertus Magnus.
Robertson, the team captain, scored two goals and added an assist, while Ploof tallied his first career goal to lead the Cadets' offense. Yegor Bezuglyy, Joe Young and Colin Pope also tallied goals for Norwich.
Robertson opened the scoring 7:49 into the first half when he tapped home a rebound goal after Rivier goalkeeper Bryar King made an initial save on Garrett Shufelt's shot from the right.
Young made it 2-0 in the 14th minute with his team-leading seventh goal of the season by knocking home a rebound chance after King made an initial save on a shot from Robertson.
Although NU dominated the possession and shots, the Cadets were unable to add to their lead before halftime. After 45 minutes, Norwich was outshooting Rivier 27-0.
Robertson completed his stat line with his second goal of the match and fifth on the season by hooking up with Shufelt again and burying a shot into the upper right corner of the goal to make it 3-0 Norwich in the 68th minute.
The Cadets increased their lead to 4-0 with a bomb from Yegor Bezuglyy to the right corner of the net in the 79th minute for his first collegiate goal. Ploof made it 5-0 just 1:23 later beating King to his right with a shot that tucked just inside the left post. Pope capped the scoring in the 84th minute with his first goal of the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Christian Hallstrom picked up the win to improve to 6-3-0 on the season without having to make a save in the first half. Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Toomey played the final 45 minutes and made one save on a free kick from Rivier's Danny Connelly. King picked up the loss for the Raiders after making 10 saves on 16 shots on net.
Norwich (9-8-0, 6-4-0 GNAC) continued its strong second half push and is now 8-3 in its last 11 games. The Cadets will now face Lasell next Sunday at a time to be determined on Howard Field in a GNAC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup. NU downed the Lasers 4-0 in their only meeting this year on Oct. 4 at Howard Field.
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