Men's Soccer Earns Record 12th Victory On Senior Day

SENIOR DAY GAME PROGRAM
SENIOR DAY PHOTO GALLERY (Coming Soon)

AURORA, N.Y. – The Wells College men's soccer team picked up its 12th overall victory on Saturday, defeating the Wildcats from Cazenovia College by a 1-0 margin at the South Athletic Field. Wells (12-6, 9-3 NEAC) has set a program record for victories in a single season while extending a team record with nine North Eastern Athletic Conference victories.

Only one season removed from an 11-6-1 overall record, the Express reached the 12-win plateau for the first time and will enter the upcoming North Eastern Athletic Conference postseason as the league's second seed. Further information about the conference playoffs will be made available on Monday.

Against Cazenovia (7-9, 6-6 NEAC), senior Max Cherry (Ridgewood, N.J.) scored the game-winning goal with only 4:19 remaining on the clock in regulation time to send the Express home with the hard-fought victory. In a scrum near the left side, freshman Justin Bingham (New Lebanon, N.Y.) was able to slide a ball forward to Cherry, who tucked the ball just inside the right post for the goal.

Cherry now boasts eight career game-winning goals, the most by any player in team history. He is now tied with Justin Rigney '12 for second place all-time with 16 career goals.

Both teams played a relatively even first half of play, with each team firing three shots and Wells holding a slight edge in corner kicks, two to one. The Express, however, took control with 10 second half shots that led to Cherry's late goal against the Wildcats. Wells also boasted six of its eight corner kicks in the second half alone as offensive pressure swung in the hosts favor.

Wells goalkeeper Michael Sciotti (North Syracuse, N.Y.) earned the start on Senior Day, playing the first 35 seconds before yielding to Owen May (Warsaw, N.Y.) who played the remainder of the tilt between the posts. May turned aside all five shots faced to pick up his 11th victory, tying him with Keuka's Preston Vick for the league lead.

The Express honored its eight graduating student-athletes in a pregame ceremony, including Alex van Hoekelen (Hazleton, Pa.), Tyler Morris (Maryland, N.Y.), Cherry, Sciotti, Wyatt Buerkle (McGraw, N.Y.), Ryan Mitzel (Voorhees, N.J.), Justin Zywot (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and William Schanbacher (Spencer, N.Y.).

Wells will await official word from the conference office regarding its first postseason opponent.