Greyhound men's soccer opens Northeast-10 Conference championship bid Sunday at Southern New Hampshire

October 31, 2008

WORCESTER, Mass. --- Assumption College will participate in the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs for the fourth time in its history. The Greyhounds, who defeated Saint Anselm College, 3-2, Tuesday to qualify, open play in the postseason for the first time since 2001.

The Greyhounds will travel to Southern New Hampshire University, ranked No. 5 in this week's NSCAA/adidas national poll, SUNDAY (November 2) with opening kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. at Larkin Field. The complete playoff picture including dates for the N.C.A.A. Division II postseason playoffs are listed below.

The teams played October 8, also at Southern New Hampshire, with the Penmen prevailing 3-0.

Sunday's match can be viewed live on webcast, provided by the athletics media relation folks at Southern New Hampshire, by accessing the Assumption College TV page at www.assumptiongreyhounds.com/athletics/webcast/index. Fans can also get official LIVESTATS at the same URL free of charge.

Admission prices, set by the Northeast-10 Conference, are $6 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.

The winner of Sunday's game will advance to the conference semifinals and play the winner of the Southern Connecticut-Franklin Pierce game at the highest seed on Wednesday, November 5 at a time to be determined. The Greyhounds can only host in the tournament if they advance to the final against No. 8 Bentley University.

The Greyhounds have played in three Northeast-10 Conference postseason tournaments previously. In 2001, they lost at Southern Connecticut (2-1) before moving on to the ECAC tournament; in 2000 they played a scoreless tie with then New Hampshire College however did not advance losing the right in penalty kicks and in 1999 they were beaten by Merrimack (3-2) in the semifinal round after drawing a first-round bye.

The Greyhounds under the direction of second-year coach JEREMY BONOMO are one the most improved programs in the conference in the last two years. Bonomo will be making a homecoming trip as he played a major role as a defender on Southern New Hampshire teams that posted an impressive 62-14-10 record in his career (1998, 2000-02) including four Northeast-10 Conference playoff appearances and two league championships (2002, 2000).

The team also advanced to three N.C.A.A. Division II tournaments and were ranked in the national top 20 four times. The Penmen reached the national final in 2002 and the national quarterfinal in both 1998 and 2000. He was the team captain in 2002 and earned third-team Northeast-10 Conference honors. He was the team Most Valuable Player in 2001.

The 2008 Greyhounds are led by its "super sophomores" including forward STEPHEN BLAISDELL (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick), who led the team in scoring (8-1--19 points) as the ninth-leading scorer in the conference with three-game winners and midfielder JEFFREY SWAN (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield-Ludlowe) (2-4--8 points). Goalkeeper BRANDON SULLIVAN (Halesite, NY/Saint Dominic) owns the second-best goals-against-average (1.56) in Greyhounds' history- -second only to Ed Weller '76 (1.44). Sullivan posted a 1.69 goals-against average with a .755 save percentage (83 saves) in 1438 minutes this season.

Freshman forward ANDREW KROH (Mount Laurel, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep) finished with 4-1--9 points including the most important goal in Hounds' annals since 2001---the game-winner against Saint Anselm Tuesday. Senior forward PAUL MURPHY (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug), a conference all-star in 2007, finished with 2-1--5 points.

Bonomo credited a total-team effort pointing out that many players had to switch positions because of a number of injuries. He singled out his troika of center midfielders including freshman JUSTIN PUGLIESE (Pembroke, MA/Pembroke) (2-0--4), sophomore PATRICK LINDBERG (Holliston, MA/Holliston) (2-1--5) and junior CURTIS ALVORD (Avon, CT/Avon) (0-0--0).

Defensively, the Greyhounds are led by junior midfielder DOUG STARBIRD (Dunstable, MA/Groton-Dunstable), sophomore defender GREG ANDERSON (Farmington, CT/Farmington), sophomore defender BRENDAN MC GEE (Merrimack, NH/Bishop Guertin), sophomore defender MIKE PERKINS (Charlton, MA/Saint John's) and versatile sophomore NICK FABRIZI (Farmington, CT/Farmington).

Southern New Hampshire is led by junior forward ADRIAN SCHIPPERS (8-4--20 points) (the fifth-leading scorer in the conference), junior forward PAULSON EDUM (7-3--17 points) (and a conference-leading four game-winning goals) and senior goalkeeper SEAN LAMBERT (1559 minutes with a league-leading 0.40 goals-against-average and .854 save percentage). Lambert was a major factor as the Penmen, who finished the season at 13-2-3 (9-1 3 in the conference, were the stingiest team allowing just seven goals all season with an amazing 12 games ending in shutouts.

CLICK HERE for COMPLETE GREYHOUNDS STATISTICS AND RESULTS

NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S SOCCER PLAYOFFS

Sunday, November 2, 2008

QUARTERFINALS

Game 1: No. 8 Bentley (8-8-2, 5-6-2) at No. 1 Massachusetts Lowell (10-2-4, 9-1-3), time TBA

Game 2: No. 7 Assumption (6-6-5, 5-4-4) at No. 2 Southern New Hampshire (13-2-3, 9-1-3), 1 p.m.

Game 3: No. 6 Southern Connecticut (6-6-5, 5-3-5) at No. 3 Franklin Pierce (11-7-1, 9-3-1), 7 p.m.

Game 4: No. 5 Merrimack (10-4-3, 7-4-2) at No. 4 Le Moyne (12-4-2, 9-3-1), 12 noon

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at higher seeds

SEMIFINALS

Game 5: winner of Game 1 vs. winner of Game 4, time TBA

Game 6: winner of Game 2 vs. winner of Game 3, time TBA

Saturday, November 8, 2008 at higher seed

CHAMPIONSHIP

winner of Game 5 vs. winner of Game 6, time TBA

N.C.A.A. DIVISION II MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

November 13 or 14, 2008

REGIONAL SEMIFINAL GAMES on campus sites, times TBA

November 15 or 16, 2008

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS on campus sites, times TBA

November 22 or 23, 2008

NATIONAL QUARTERFINAL GAMES on campus sites, times TBA

December 4 and 6, 2008

NATIONAL FINAL FOUR

Pepin-Rood Stadium, Tampa, Florida

hosted by the University of Tampa

HOW TO GET TO SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

from Assumption College... Interstate 290 East... Iinterstate 495 North... Rte. 3 North... Everett Pike North (toll)... Amoskeag Br. Exit... over bridge to lights... left on to Elm Street at lights... take left on Bennington Road and then go one block and take right on North River St. (street parallels river)... 5-6 miles to college (on left)... watch for 3-way stop sign (police trap)... campus entrance on River St. on left