Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – The task was daunting yet do-able for the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team Saturday when it faced Little East Conference unbeaten and regionally-ranked University of Massachusetts Boston in the conference regular-season finale at Rick McCarthy Field: win and you're in (the LEC playoffs), lose and you go home (the Warriors were actually home, anyway).
 
Having played some of its best soccer of the year this year at McCarthy Field – which included ties with highly-regarded U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Wesleyan University and a one-goal victory over Fisher College – the Warriors battled UMass Boston (10-1-5, 6-0-2 LEC) throughout before 2023 LEC Rookie-of-the-Year John Arruda scored the only goal of the match with 12 minutes left as the Beacons posted their seventh consecutive shutout to deny Eastern (4-8-4, 2-5-1 LEC) a spot in the LEC playoffs for only the second time in 17 seasons under head coach Greg DeVito.
 
It marked the fourth time this year that Eastern has outshot its opponent in a loss and first 1-0 shutout loss to UMB in ten years. The Warriors outshot the Beacons 20-16, including 13-7 in the second half but could not get one past UMB graduate goalie Andy Ramirez (nine saves), who has given up only six goals in over 1,000 minutes. Ramirez, who posted 11 shutouts as a senior last year Worcester State University, improved his goals-against average to 0.55 and upped his save percentage to .890 – both top figures in the conference.
 
After Arruda's third goal of the season lifted UMB into the lead, Eastern outshot the Beacons 5-1 (and had two corner kicks) over the final 15 minutes but were never able to put any of those shots on net.
 
In the final match of his four-year career, senior keeper Nathan Yeich (Willington) made six saves, five coming in a scoreless first half.
 
Last year's LEC regular-season champion and playoff runner-up, UMass Boston enters this year's playoffs as the No. 2 seed – one point behind 2023 playoff titlist Western Connecticut in the final standings. Saturday, Western won the battle of LEC once-beatens with a resounding 5-0 home victory over Rhode Island College, knocking the Anchormen down to the No. 3 seed and forcing them to play a first-round home match Tuesday.