Box Score
Video Highlights by Tanner Acebo, NU Sports Information
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's soccer team advanced to its third Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship game in the last four seasons with a 4-2 victory over Lasell College on Tuesday night on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.
Norwich (13-5-2) will travel to No. 1 seed Johnson & Wales on Saturday, Nov. 8 at a time to be determined. The Wildcats are the defending GNAC champions and they beat NU 1-0 earlier this season on Oct. 13 at Sabine Field.
Conor Fitzgerald wasted little time putting Lasell (9-9-1) up 1-0 as the junior forward tallied his team-leading 12th goal of the season by slicing a shot off the left post and into the back of the net in the fourth minute.
Norwich answered in the 16th minute with senior team captain Chris Bristol (Clinton, Conn.) blasting a side volley into the top of the net off a throw in from DJ Spears (San Antonio, Texas) to knot the game up at 1-1. The goal was Bristol's seventh of the season and Spears picked up his sixth assist.
Spears gave Norwich the lead in the 27th minute with a perfectly struck ball into the upper 90 ride side of the goal that left Lasell goalkeeper Miguel Colmenares no chance for his second goal in as many playoff games. Senior Ryan Curley (East Haddam, Conn.) picked up the assist on the goal.
Freshman Bryan Mazzola (Ridgefield, Conn.) pushed the lead to 3-1 in the 36th minute with a strike over the outstretched hand of Colmenares into the top right corner of the net for his third goal of the season.
Sophomore Jacob Zimmerman (Litchfield, N.H.) extended the Cadets' lead to 4-1 in the 56th minute with a tap in goal off a crossing pass from Bristol. Bristol started the play by dispossessing the ball from a Lasell defender. Junior Eric Beecy (Stowe, Vt.) ran onto the ball while Bristol overlapped to his left. Beecy took a shot that was deflected back to his feet and then he played the ball over to Bristol toward the end line. Bristol ran onto it and fired a crossing pass with his left foot that Zimmerman redirected into the back of the net after Colmenares couldn't get a hand on the crossing pass. The goal was Zimmerman's team and GNAC-leading 17th tally of the season.
Fitzgerald scored again for Lasell in the 71st minute when he fired a shot past NU goalkeeper Christian Hallstrom (Las Vegas, Nev.) after a scramble in front of the net off a corner kick.
However, that's as close as Lasell would get as the Cadets walked away with the 4-2 victory and improved to 9-3-1 all-time against the Lasers.
Lasell came close to making it 4-3 in the last minute; however Hallstrom made a kick save on a breakaway by Lasell's Nick Liquori for his sixth and final save of the game. Colmenares made seven saves for Lasell in the loss.
Norwich will be looking to win its fifth GNAC title and the first since 2008 on Saturday. The winner of Saturday's game will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
