PREVIEW: NEAC Men's Soccer Championship Game

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MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – For the first time in program history, the Wells College men's soccer team has qualified for the North Eastern Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship Game. The second-seeded Express will take on the top-seeded Mustangs from Morrisville State College on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. at the latter's home field. 

The winner of Sunday's NEAC Championship will earn the league's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament. 

Wells qualified for the conference's title match after posting a thrilling 2-1 win against Keuka on Saturday in the NEAC Semifinals, posting the team's first victory in the playoffs since Nov. 3, 2009, a 1-0 win over Morrisville State. In the contest, freshman Jack Pilgrim (North Kingstown, R.I.) and senior Max Cherry (Ridgewood, N.J.) scored goals to lift the Express out of an early one goal hole. 

The Express are already enjoying its best season in program history, posting 13 wins in 19 matches to set a single-season record for victories. Collectively, the team has posted an impressive 99 points on offense, scoring 34 goals and 31 assists (all team records), and limited its opponents to only 0.92 goals-against average, the team's lowest single-season mark since last year's 1.04 average. 

EXPRESS NOTABLES

• Wells is 3-5-2 all-time against Morrisville State after picking up a 2-1 double-overtime victory against the Mustangs in Aurora on Oct. 14 of this season. In that contest, Pilgrim scored his team's game-winning goal in the second overtime stanza.

• Entering Sunday's match against the Mustangs, Wells has recorded nine victories in its last 10 matches with the single loss coming against SUNY Poly on Oct. 17. Extending the range of contests further, Wells has only lost twice in its last 13 matches.

• The Mustangs played an extremely competitive non-conference schedule in 2015, opening the season with formidable opponents from Oneonta St., Cortland St., and Rochester (N.Y.) (0-2-1). The team rebounded quickly, however, and went on to post an impressive 10-1-1 record against NEAC opponents in 2015 – the single loss came against Wells and the draw was against Penn St.-Abington, both on the road.

• Morrisville State is led by Jamieson McKoy and his team-leading 12 goals and three assists for 27 points (12-3=27) – McKoy ranks third in the NEAC in point scoring. The Express will also have to oppose First Team goalkeeper Rob Larkin, who has allowed only eight goals all season en route to a league-best 0.61 goals-against average. Morrisville State had six selections on the league's All-Conference team including five First Team honorees.

• Excluding the two Morrisville State victories against the first-year Wells men's soccer team in 2006, the remaining eight games between the two programs have all been decided by only one goal – four of those contests reached double-overtime.

• The men's soccer team will be the second Wells team to reach the finals of a NEAC Championship in 2015 – the field hockey program claimed its first-ever league championship on Oct. 31. The Express are seeking its first-ever league title in men's soccer.

• Wells will look for its eighth NEAC Championship since joining the league in 2007 and its 16th overall conference championship since the dawn of intercollegiate athletics in the mid-1970's.