Eastern Connecticut State University

MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Heading into the final night with a multitude of scenarios, the only surefire way for Eastern Connecticut State University Men's Soccer to ensure they made the Little East Conference Tournament was with a win at Rick McCarthy Field against Rhode Island College on Wednesday. In the event of a tie or loss, the Warriors would need to keep an eye on the scoreboard to see the result of the Plymouth State University-University of Southern Maine affair, which ended up being the case after a 0-0 tie.

While Saturday's victory on the road against Southern Maine bumped Eastern ahead of Plymouth State by a point, the Panthers owned the tiebreaker after a 1-0 win at Rick McCarthy Field earlier this month. So when the clock struck zero on the scoreless draw, the Warriors officially eliminated Keene State College from sneaking into the sixth and final spot, but still needed to keep an eye on the Panthers, as they only held a two-point edge in the standings.

Just over two hours later, the Huskies took down the Panthers in Gorham, Maine, 2-1, solidifying Eastern's spot as the sixth seed in the LEC Tournament, making it two straight appearances in the dance for Head Coach Greg Devito's team. Now, they will get to see Rhode Island College once more in a rematch on Wednesday's tie, this Saturday on the road in the first round of the LEC Tournament at 4:00 PM, as the Anchormen are the third seed.

On paper, the numbers showed a lopsided offensive affair with Rhode Island College outshooting Eastern, 19-8, and 10-5 on goal, but the quality of chances that the Warriors got, especially in the second half, was high. Even more impressive was the streak Eastern continues to keep of not allowing a goal in the first half of a match, making it 15 straight matches dating back to last season.

Junior goalkeeper Jack Harmon was a big reason for that as he made a career-high 10 saves in goal for the Warriors in his 90 minutes of action, recording his fifth shutout of the season and second in a row. It was also the first non-tournament scoreless tie between the two squads since exactly 20 years ago to the day on October 28th, 2006. However, back on November 3rd, 2010, the teams worked to a scoreless tie in the LEC Tournament where Rhode Island College won on penalty kicks, 5-4. 

While Harmon made five first-half saves, only one shot would reach the net for the Warriors off the foot of senior forward Patricio Vidales in the 36th minute on a rush down the right side. Vidales would fire a curving ball towards senior goalkeeper Elhadji Ndoye, who made the stop as the two sides went into halftime with no score.

Several opportunities came for both teams way in the second half, starting with a scrum in the box that led to a trio of Eastern players getting a crack at the ball. It would ultimately lead to first-year forward Cameron Zingle getting a shot from the left side of the goal mouth, which was stopped by Ndoye. 

As time was winding down, sophomore midfielder Randy Vang took a shot at Harmon from outside the box in space, pushing it just wide of the open side of the goal in a match that, with a win, Rhode Island College would have earned the second seed and a bye in the LEC Tournament. 

The last major chance for either team came in the 87th minute as a bouncing ball in the air led to a jump-kick shot from sophomore midfielder Miguel Garcia, who elevated it enough in traffic to force Ndoye to make a last-second leap to his left to force the 0-0 tie.

Now with only a couple of days to prepare, Eastern and Rhode Island College will take the field again at 4:00 PM in Providence, Rhode Island, with a bid to the LEC Semifinals on the line to face top-seeded WestConn next Wednesday. In the tournament, both teams have taken four matches each, with this edition being the ninth postseason matchup all-time.