STANDISH, Maine – The Mount Ida College men's soccer team has reached the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) 2016 tournament as the #8 seed, and they know that once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen.
The Mustangs (5-9-3, 2-6-1 GNAC) will hope to pull the upset on Saturday afternoon when they head to top-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine for a 1:00 pm quarterfinals matchup at the grass field on campus.
It will be a tough test for the Green and White, as to do so would mean beating a team that is 13-1-4, has only allowed six goals all season, and is riding a 13-game unbeaten streak and a seven game shutout streak.
Saint Joseph's earned the top seed with an undefeated 8-0-1 conference mark, their only blemish, if you will, was a scoreless draw at Norwich on October 15th.
Mount Ida, however, was a tough test for the Monks during the team's regular season meeting in Newton on September 28. It took a singular stroke of brilliance from junior Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine) for the visitors to escape with a 1-0 victory, and Mount Ida created lots of good chances against Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.), who has 11 shutouts and a 0.29 goals against average in 17 games played.
Offensively, the Mustangs have leaned on sophomore Juan Brenes (Santo Domingo, D.R.), who has seven goals, including four game-winning tallies. Freshman Michael Porcello (Abington, Mass.) has three goals, including a game-winner this year, and is part of a strong first-year class that has seen lots of time this season, including lock-down defender Adam Beaty (Middletown, Conn.) and playmaker Jared Barroso (Central Falls, R.I.).
Back for his junior year, goalkeeper Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.), has a 1.89 goals against average and has five shutouts for Mount Ida, who is 1-1-1 in their final three games leading up to the tournament.
Sophomore Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.) has six goals and three assists, including five game-winning goals, to lead the offense for the Monks.
This is the sixth consecutive postseason trip to the GNAC postseason for Mount Ida, who has reached the semifinals in each of the last two seasons. Saturday's meeting will be the 12th all-time between the Monks and Mustangs, with Saint Joseph's holding a slim 6-5 edge in the matchup, including winning the last two meetings and holding a 4-1 edge in games played in Standish, Maine.
You can follow live stats for Saturday's game here: http://mountidamustangs.com/sports/msoc/2016-17/boxscores/20161029_ia33.xml