Men’s Soccer To Host Cazenovia In Key NEAC Matchup
AURORA, N.Y. – With both teams deadlocked at 12 points within North Eastern Athletic Conference play, the winner of this Saturday's men's soccer game between Cazenovia College and Wells College will qualify for the four-team NEAC Men's Soccer Championships that begin Saturday, Nov. 9 at the site of the top seeded team.
The game, beginning at noon on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the South Athletic Field, will also feature a barbecue in conjunction with the college's Friends and Family Weekend. In addition, fans in attendance will receive Wells College tattoos and Express thunder sticks to make noise in support of the Express during the game. Materials will also be provided to allow students to make posters supporting the home team. The Wells College women's soccer team will also host Cazenovia in a 2:00 p.m. contest.
Additionally, the men's soccer team will honor its three graduating senior student-athletes, including Bayly, Adam Sullivan (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Pat O'Callaghan (Selden, N.Y.), in a pre-game ceremony and will recognize their contributions to the program across their four-year careers.
Wells enters this weekend's action with an overall record of 8-4-3 and a league record of 3-1-3. This season, the Express are in the midst of their best season in team history after securing their first winning record since becoming a varsity program in 2006. Last year, Wells set a program record with eight overall victories and have already tied that mark in 2013. Within conference play, Wells has only dropped one contest all year, a 2-0 game to the Wildcats of SUNY Institute of Technology.
Having scored 24 goals and 13 assists for 61 points (24-13=61), the Wells offense has racked up the third-highest point total in single season history. Averaging 4.07 points per game through 15 games, their offensive output trails only the 2011 men's soccer team at Wells (4.94 ppg, 17 games). In total, 12 different Express players have recorded at least one point while four different players, including two freshmen, have four or more goals to their credit.
The Wells backfield has also been superb this season, limiting their opponents to a program record 1.02 goals per game in 1,410 minutes. Goalkeepers C.J. Bayly (Waymart, Pa.) and Michael Sciotti (North Syracuse, N.Y.) have allowed only 16 goals all season – in conference play, Bayly has started all seven games for Wells and has allowed only four goals to conference opponents in 690 minutes of action.
Cazenovia, who sports a 4-9 overall record, enters this weekend with a 4-3 mark in conference play, most recently earning a 5-2 victory over Lancaster Bible College on Saturday. Junior Ryan Hanehan leads all NEAC players with 11 goals scored and is ranked third overall with 23 points (11-1=23). Senior Oleg Martynyuk leads all NEAC players with seven assists on the season while Hanehan's classmate, Andrew Schultz, ranks second overall in the conference with 100 saves to his credit.
In all-time series history, Cazenovia holds the decisive 5-1 advantage in the six games played between the two colleges. Last season, the Wildcats blanked the Express at Christakos Field by a 2-0 margin – the last victory for Wells over Cazenovia came on Sept. 16, 2008, a 2-0 shutout victory in Aurora. The most recent season that Cazenovia has not qualified for the NEAC postseason was in 2008.
Following the game, the North Eastern Athletic Conference will publish postseason information regarding seeding and host sites at http://www.neacsports.com.
