Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team defeated Regis (Mass.) on Saturday afternoon to lock up the No. 3 seed for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoffs.
Sophomore forward Amerle Nemeye (Burlington, Vt.) continued his sizzling scoring pace of late with a goal and an assist to lead the Norwich offense in the victory. Freshmen Joseph Thongsythavong (Salem, Mass.) and Hunter Lortie (Manchester, N.H.) as well Matt Bento (Brookfield, Conn.) each added a goal as well to round out the Cadets' goal scorers.
Nemeye scored the eventual game-winning goal with at the 25:02 mark of the first half with an unassisted goal for his ninth goal of the season. Nemeye took a pass and then made a move past a Regis defender and briefly tripped up over the ball. He was still able to bring the ball back to touch with a terrific recovery and then fired a shot into the corner of the net.
Bento upped the lead to 2-0 in the 37th minute, pouncing on a loose ball in the box and depositing it into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
Lortie increased the lead to 3-0, scoring on a header off an assist from Alex Brannan (Oneonta, N.Y.) for his fourth goal of the season and Brannan's team leading eighth assist of the year.
Thongsythavong capped the scoring in the 54th minute with a header goal off a service from the right from Nemeye for his team-leading 10th tally of the season. Thongsythavong headed the ball into the far right corner of the net for the goal.
Norwich outshot Regis 26-2 in the game. Freshman goalie Robert Wagenseller (Poway, Calif.) made one save to improve to 12-3-1 and pick up the team shutout with Jacob Wiggins making another save to preserve the clean sheet in 17:52 of game action in the second half.
Norwich improved to 12-3-1 overall and 7-2-1 in GNAC play. The Cadets will close out the regular season on Wednesday vs. Lasell at 7 p.m. NU has already locked up the No. 3 seed, while Johnson & Wales will be the likely No. 1 seed after tying three-time defending GNAC champion Saint Joseph's (Maine). SJC will likely be the No. 2 seed.
Prior to the game, Norwich held its annual Senior Day ceremony to honor its six seniors on this year's team in Alex Arvizo, Julius Davis, Andrew Kalombo, Josue Lopez, Julio Arreola and Dashiell Vermilya.
