Men's Soccer Topped by Gordon in Opening Round of CCC Tournament

WENHAM, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's soccer team left it all out on the field in their Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship Tournament opening round matchup against the Fighting Scots of Gordon but came up just short of advancing, surrendering a goal to freshman Benny Simpson (Evergreen, Colo.) at the 84:50 mark to bring the Leopards' season to a close on Thursday afternoon.

RECORDS:
WIT:       (4-11-3, 2-7-1 CCC)
GOR:      (6-9-3, 5-5 CCC)

SCORING:

• GOR: Benny Simpson (Isaac Bennett), 84:50

SHOTS (ON GOAL):
WIT:   11 (7); GOR:   15 (6)

GOALIE SAVES:
WIT: Louis Quintero, 5; GOR:   Gunnar Lucuk, 7

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The playoff atmosphere was apparent early into the contest. A shot taken by senior TJ Prouty (Glendora, Calif.) went wide of the goal just over a minute into the game. Senior goalkeeper Louis Quintero (Boston, Mass.) then faced two shots in a span of just over four minutes and saved both.
• In a quiet remainder of the first half, Wentworth managed to nick four more shots in the direction of Fighting Scots freshman goalkeeper Gunnar Lucuk (Southbury, Conn.) who saved all of them.
• Quintero got to work early in the second half, making a stop on senior George Coogan IV (Chattanooga, Tenn.) at the 49:39 mark. Coogan IV had another shot stopped by Quintero at the 71:38 mark.
• Gordon breaks the score from double-zeros at the 84:50 mark with a goal from Simpson, who received an outlet kick from junior Isaac Bennett (Matthews, N.C.) for a perfect tap-in goal to put the Fighting Scots ahead 1-0.
• Two final shots from sophomore Christopher Jimenez (Doral, Fla.) and junior Jordon Smith (Dorchester, Mass.) in the 85^th and 89^th minutes, respectively, were both turned away by Lucuk, who posted seven saves in a shutout performance.
• The Fighting Scots now go on to face No. 2 seed Roger Williams on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round.

THE SERIES:

• Today's playoff game marked the 34^th meeting between the two teams. Gordon leads the all-time series 23-9-2 and defeated the Leopards 4-3 in regular season play on Oct 15.

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