Men's Soccer Looks for Improvement Within the CCC

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Gordon College has been voted as the favorite to win the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference men's soccer championship after receiving five first place votes and a total of 93 points in the CCC preseason poll.  Nichols College, the defending champion, earned second place with 89 points and three first place votes. Endicott College claimed third with 76 points and the remaining first place votes while Roger Williams University was selected fourth after receiving 74 points and Salve Regina University was selected fifth with 55 points to round out the top billing.

Voting for the preseason poll was conducted among the league's head men's soccer coaches.

The 2014 CCC championship proved to be a rather tight matchup, as Nichols edged Gordon 2-1 in double overtime. After claiming their second CCC title since 2010, the Bison earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, Nichols recorded a 1-0 victory over UMass-Boston. This was the first time in program history that Nichols recorded an NCAA win.  The Bison would see their tournament run end as they faced SUNY Oneonta and fell 2-0 in the second round. Endicott and Curry also competed in the postseason at the ECAC tournament. The Gulls were tabbed the No. 2 seed and the Colonels were the No. 6 seed. Endicott claimed a 5-1 victory over Elms while Curry earned a 2-1 victory over Bridgewater State in the quarterfinals. The semifinals saw the Gulls knock out the Colonels, 4-3. Endicott went on to claim its first ECAC championship since 1998 and second overall championship in program history after defeating Colby-Sawyer 2-1 in overtime.

In 2014 the Wentworth men's soccer team won more games than the 2012 and 2013 squads combined and lost three contests by a single goal. While the Leopards missed the postseason, third-year head coach Connor Erickson is optimistic that Wentworth can compete for a conference tournament berth and make a run at a championship. The Leopards return four of their top six scorers from a season ago, including senior Sam Martins (Dartmouth, Mass.) and sophomore Joe Kalil (Franklin, Mass.). Martins, a two-time All-Commonwealth Coast Conference selection, had 11 points (two goals, seven assists) a season ago while Kalil had 10 coming on five goals. Sophomore Emmett Basaca (San Diego, Calif.) started all 17 contests last season and his steady presence in the midfield helped the Black & Gold hold opponents to one or fewer goals on seven occasions.

2015 CCC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll

The 2015 CCC men's soccer campaign gets started next week with all ten teams in action. The top eight teams in the regular-season conference standings will qualify for the conference tournament, which gets underway Saturday, October 31 with quarterfinal action. The winners of the quarterfinal matchups will move on to the semifinals on Tuesday, November 3. The two semifinal victors will battle for the CCC championship on Saturday, November 7.

Wentworth opens its season on Tuesday, September 1, with a home contest against Lasell at 7:00 p.m.