MANSFIELD, Conn. – In control of their own destiny to win the Little East Conference regular season championship, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team took on UMass Dartmouth at Thomas Nevers Field on Friday for Senior Day.
The path to the title was simple for the Warriors (11-6-0, 7-1-0 LEC), all they had to do was beat the Corsairs (7-6-2, 3-4-1 LEC) and they would earn their third consecutive Little East Conference regular-season championship. Riding a fast start and the foot of first-year forward
Sean Cafferty (Clinton), Eastern cruised to a 4-0 victory over UMass Dartmouth and secured the title.
Following the first-round bye awarded the top two seeds, the Warriors will host a semifinal-round match Thursday at 2 p.m.
The Warriors put the pressure on early when junior forward
Ryan Sirois (Tolland) tested sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Buttafoco in the first minute of the keeper's first start of the season but would be denied. Buttafoco would also turn away quality shot attempts by junior defender
Larson Richards (Mansfield) and senior midfielder
Emmanuel Agyemang (East Hartford). A header by Sirois was also stopped by a diving Buttafoco near the left post as Eastern manufactured four quality scoring chances in the opening seven minutes of play.
However, the Warriors eventually broke through in the 11
th minute when Richards took a corner kick from the left side of the pitch. His line drive found the head of a wide-open Cafferty on the right side who headed it into the back of the net to put Eastern ahead by one. Although dominating time of possession in the offensive zone, the scoring chances would be limited for the Warriors as the first half wore on.
That was until the 35
th minute when Cafferty would earn his second goal of the game. The shot came from the left side of the field following the forward's first shot attempt being stopped by a diving Buttafoco. On the rebound, Cafferty would make the most of his opportunity at the net and rifle home his fifth goal of the season to put Eastern in front by two going into the break. The Warriors outshot the Corsairs 10-1 in the first 45 minutes (6-0 in shots on goal) and generate six corner kick opportunities to UMass Dartmouth's one.
Junior defender
Jared Caroline (South Windsor) wasted no time extending Eastern's lead to 3-0 when another corner kick by Richards found the South Windsor native for a header into the left side of the goal mouth in the 48
th minute. Just three minutes later, it would be sophomore forward
Caleb Ennin's (East Hartford) turn to get on the goal sheet as he streaked down the left side of the field and was initially turned by the Corsair defense and Buttafoco. However, a failed clear attempt by the sophomore who came out of the net would lead to Ennin finding the ball back on his foot with nothing but an open net between him and his second goal of the season. The goal would give the Warriors a 4-0 lead which would be the eventual final score of the match.
In his third career start, first-year goalkeeper
Nathan Yeich (Willington) made three saves to earn his first full collegiate shutout. The tandem of Yeich and sophomore goalkeeper
Dylan Pallanck (Willington) in net have combined for eight shutouts this season.
With his two assists on the Cafferty and Caroline goals, Richards has now recorded two assists in each of his last three games.
In addition to finishing 7-1 in conference play this year, the Warriors were an astounding 8-1 at home and outscored their opponents 37-4 across those nine games. Friday's shutout made it six shutouts at home.
