Box Score BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Ocane Williamson scored four goals and assisted on a fifth to power the top-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston men's soccer team to a 7-2 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the semifinals of the Little East Conference playoffs Wednesday night at James Cotter Field.
Ranked second in New England and 15th nationally, UMass (16-1-2) avenged its only loss of the season (2-1 at Willimantic on Oct. 15) in moving into its third straight LEC playoff championship match. The two-time defending champions meet second-seeded Rhode Island College (15-3-1) for the second straight year. The Anchormen edged third-seeded Western Connecticut, 1-0 in overtime, earlier Wednesday.
Williamson, a 6-foot-3 inch, 200 pound 28-year-old forward with international experience, scored twice in the first 31 minutes to help stake UMB to a 3-0 lead, then added two more in a span of five minutes early in the second half to push the lead to 6-0. He assisted on his team's final goal with 22 minutes left. Williamson shares the LEC lead with 17 goals and is third with 38 points.
After managing only one goal on 23 shots in their regular-season loss to Eastern, UMass connected on seven of 25 this time. The Beacons average just under four goals per match.
Eastern (6-10-1) senior defender Emmanuel Caicedo (Manchester) scored both of Eastern's goals to finish as the team leader with five. Caicedo headed in freshman Nick Starkowski's (Marlborough) throw-in midway through the second half to ruin the shutout bid of UMB freshman keeper Omar Castro-Dreher, then closed out the scoring with five minutes left when he sent in the rebound of a shot by senior Alejandro Tobon (West Hartford). The point was the first of the season for Tobon.
Eastern sophomore keeper Ryan Murphy (Cromwell) made eight saves – one shy of his season high -- before giving way to freshman Joseph Lucy (Shelton) over the final 18+ minutes.
Half of Eastern's losses this year came against teams ranked in this week's New England Top 10. Eastern concluded the season losing seven of eight matches on the road, the first five of the setbacks coming by one goal.
Since winning three straight LEC playoff titles, Eastern was eliminated in the semifinals for the third straight year. The Warriors had dropped 1-0 decisions in each of the previous two seasons.
