CASTLETON, Vt. -- For one final time in Little East Conference play, Eastern Connecticut State University Men's Soccer and VTSU-Castleton squared off on Saturday afternoon as, for the eighth time in nine conference meetings, it was the Warriors coming out on top, 2-0, behind goals from first-year midfielder
Max Montejano and sophomore midfielder
Christian Moura.
The victory marked the seventh time in 13 all-time meetings in which Eastern has shut out the Spartans, a series that started way back in November of 1968, before taking a 30-year hiatus from 1984 until 2014, and saw the Warriors win the first 10 matchups between 1968 and 2023.
Furthermore, with the victory, Eastern pushes its unbeaten streak to five consecutive matches, while junior goalkeeper
Jack Harmon's second shutout victory of the season also coincided with his eighth consecutive match dating back to last season in which he has not allowed a goal in net. As for the five-match unbeaten streak, it is the first time in which the Warriors have gone five straight matches without a loss since the 2021 season when they won the final three matches of the regular season before sweeping their two LEC Tournament matches, and then had it snapped in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Christopher Newport University.
A relatively back-and-forth match throughout, it was Eastern holding an 8-3 edge in shots after the first 45 minutes, forcing junior goalkeeper Xander Berthiaume to make five saves to keep the match scoreless, while Harmon needed just two. On one end, Berthiaume would close with seven saves, while Harmon was credited with six saves on seven shots on goal, with that seventh shot being awarded as a team save in the shutout win for the junior.
Although it was the Spartans manufacturing more shots on goal, 5-4, half of the Warriors' shots would get by Berthiaume as only 3:20 into the second half, Moura connected on his fourth goal of the season, a mark that leads the team so far through seven matches, as the sophomore continued his pattern of scoring in every other match to start the year. Right before Harmon would make a tremendous diving save on a header from sophomore defender Junior Carreira, Montejano scored his first collegiate goal for the Warriors, providing a two-goal cushion for the defense, which held on for its third shutout win of the season, 2-0.
With a week off, Eastern prepares for Senior Day at Rick McCarthy Field next Saturday at 12:00 PM against Fisher College. This will be the fifth consecutive year and fifth matchup all-time between the two teams, with the Warriors coming out on top in all four affairs, including last year in a 2-0 victory at home.
