Bentley Hosts Southern Conn in NE-10 Playoffs Tuesday; Blatchford Named Co-Goalkeeper of the Week
WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley has earned the No. 4 seed in the Northeast-10 Men's Soccer Championship, and as a result, will host No. 5 seed Southern Connecticut on Tuesday at 1:00 pm in the quarterfinals. Senior Jack Blatchford (Douglas, Mass./Douglas) was named the NE-10 Co-Goalkeeper of the Week as well on Monday.
Tomorrow's match can be seen live on Bentleyfalcons.TV, free of charge
Blatchford helped Bentley secure its top-four spot in the standings as they went 2-0 to close out the regular season last week. He made four saves in a 1-0 win at New Haven on Oct. 27 for his third shutout of the season. He then made three more saves in Bentley's 3-1 victory over AIC on Friday to finish the regular season. It's the first time this season he's been honored as Goalkeeper of the Week.
That two match winning streak to end the season put Bentley's Northeast-10 record at 8-4-1 for 25 points. They earned the No. 4 seed and a home playoff match for the quarterfinals by virtue of head-to-head tiebreakers over both Le Moyne and Southern Conn. They defeated Le Moyne 2-1 on Oct. 10 and the Owls 2-1 on Oct. 13.
In that win over the Owls, Bentley jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by co-captain Scott Levy (Canton, Mass./Canton) in the 25th minute. Just after halftime, they made it 2-0 when Nick Hoffman (East Brookfield, Mass./Quabbin) struck in the 51st minute. Southern made it a 2-1 game with a goal in the 70th minute, but the Falcons held on the rest of the way.
Bentley's two goal scorers on that day, Levy and Hoffman, ended the season as two of the team's four players with double-digit points. Hoffman led the way with 16 (6g, 4a), which is T-12th in the conference at the end of the season. Levy is 3rd on the squad with 12 points (3g, 6a), behind sophomore Sean Sullivan's (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) 14 points (7 goals).
Sullivan enters the postseason as one of the NE-10's hottest players with six goals in the last five matches. Midfielder Jose Tirado (Lima, Peru) finished with 10 points (2g, 6a) and also ended on a high-note with a goal and an assist vs. AIC.
The Owls have been led offensively this season by sophomore forward Louis Greenway Tambini, who is 3rd in the Northeast-10 in goals with 10.
Tuesday's match will be the 4th time these two programs have met in the postseason. Bentley won the most recent meeting in the 2010 NE-10 Semifinals on penalty kicks to advance to the Championship match. After falling behind 2-0 in the 2nd half, Bentley roared back with goals in the 75th and 80th minutes to force OT before eventually winning on PKs. The Owls won the first two playoff matches in the 2003 and 2004 Northeast-10 Tournaments.
The other quarterfinal matchups on Tuesday will pit top-seed Southern New Hampshire vs. Saint Michael's, No. 2 Merrimack vs. No. 7 seed Saint Rose and No. 3 seed Adelphi vs. No. 6 seed Le Moyne. The semifinals will take place on Friday, Nov. 6, and the championship match is set for Sunday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 pm.