Box Score PROVIDENCE, R.I. – For the second straight year the Norwich University men's soccer team had its season end at the hands of the Johnson & Wales University in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament.
Byron Arbodela scored in the 22nd minute to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead and then JWU added three more goals in the second half en route to earning its third straight trip to the GNAC Championship game. JWU is the two-time defending champions and beat Norwich 3-0 in last year's final.
Andrew Vercere scored twice in the second half and Tucker MacPherson added another goal for the Wildcat offense that continued to sizzle down the stretch increasing its total to an impressive 42 goals over its last eight games.
Johnson & Wales (16-4-0) took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute with Byron Arboleda scoring on a header off his rebound after a NU defensive miscue off a goal kick led to his 10th goal of the season.
Arboleda intercepted a goal kick and got off an initial shot that was deflected, NU freshman goalkeeper Stefan Skoff (San Jose, Calif.) came off his line and was caught out, allowing Arboleda another chance at it and he headed it toward the empty net. NU senior Zach Garcia (Yuma, Ariz) tried a bicycle kick on the line but he couldn't get to it in time to clear it away.
MacPherson scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season in the 57th minute after splitting the NU center backs off a through ball from Xavier Carty and then slipping the ball to the far post, past the outstretched hand of Skoff to make it 2-0 JWU.
Vecere scored his first of two goals on the night in the 59th minute off an assist from Doug Kase for the Wildcats' second goal in a span of 2:07.
Vecere struck again in the 69th minute with an unassisted goal that bounced off the post on a free kick and then he deposited the rebound in the back of the net to cap the scoring in the Wildcats' 4-0 victory.
Johnson & Wales outshot Norwich 20-8 on the day and had six corner kicks to Norwich's four.
Skoff finished with six saves on the night to end his rookie season with a 12-7-1 record. Nick Tolman made three saves to pick up his eighth shutout of the season for JWU.
Norwich concludes the season with a 12-7-1 record and made its 12th straight GNAC semifinal appearance, including all 10 seasons under head coach Kyle Dezotell.
Johnson & Wales will host No. 6 Albertus Magnus, who picked up its second straight upset win with a 3-2 victory over Mount Ida.
