BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Troy Remillard (Palmer, Mass.) scored a pair of goals and senior Kory Caster (Wilbraham, Mass.) had a goal and an assist as the Western New England University men's soccer team scored four unanswered goals to claim the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship over Wentworth Institute of Technology.
The fourth-seeded Golden Bears won their sixth title since joining the league in 2007 and their first since 2013, improving to 11-9-1 on the season. Western New England garners the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament, with the pairing being announced Monday at 1:00 p.m. The leopards see their season come to a close with a 13-4-4 record.
Wentworth struck early, scoring in the sixth minute as senior Alec Watkinson (Merrimack, N.H.), the hero of the semifinal win over Gordon, scored his fifth goal of the season. Junior Matt Cicalis (Bridgewater, Mass.) set Watkinson up with a pass through the middle where Watkinson put home the shot, which initially struck the left post.
At 34:40, Western New England evened the score at a goal apiece on a senior Ryan Dickinson (South Hadley, Mass.) goal. Dickinson carried the ball into the offensive end and beat sophomore Joe Schallmo (Norwood, Mass.) with a shot inside the right post.
Remillard scored what would be the game-winning goal just 29 seconds into the second half as Caster sent a long pass through the middle and Remillard beat Schallmo to his right. Caster made it a 3-0 game with a goal, which was set up by junior Maurice Young (Walpole, Mass.), at the 48:15 mark.
With just over 18 minutes remaining, Remillard made a long run with the ball and put home a shot to the right for his 16th marker of the season, sealing the championship for the visitors.
Senior Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) made six saves in the victory, while Schallmo made three for Wentworth. Western New England had a 15-14 shot advantage while the Leopards had six of the game's seven corner kicks.
