DANBURY, Conn. - The top-seeded Western Connecticut State University Wolves were stunned in the second overtime period by the visiting University of Massachusetts-Boston Beacons in the finals of the Little East Conference (LEC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament this afternoon at Westside Stadium. WestConn, which led, 1-0, early and doubled up the Beacons in shots, 26-13, loses for the first time since September 29 (7-1-2) and ends the year with a 13-4-5 record. UMass Boston improves to 10-5-1 with its sixth consecutive victory and earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The No. 3-seeded Beacons win the league title on WestConn's field for the second year in a row and the third time in five seasons. The Wolves had done the same to the Beacons in Boston in 2023.
The offenses came out slow with just one shot-on-goal in the first 10 minutes before UMass Boston's Gabriel Jordao nearly got the ball lover the head of WestConn freshman goalkeeper
Aime Ruggles (Bronx, N.Y.), but the rookie caught the ball past his head with his outstretched hands. In the 19th minute, Wolves junior midfielder
Juan Gomez Herrera (Brentwood, N.Y.) redirected a corner kick by senior midfielder
Jeffrey Norales (Bronx, N.Y.) from the baseline with his back to the goal just enough for the ball to scoot past the hands of Beacon goalie J.J. Devine and give the home team a 1-0 lead. Junior forward
Chance Campbell (Bartow, Fla.) nearly gave WestConn a 2-0 lead but his close chance chance in the 22nd minute was stopped by Devine.
Ruggles made another spectacular save in the 30th minute on a shot from inside the box in transition by Beacon freshman Pedro Moraes, but junior midfielder Eduardo Chirico tied the game in the 34th minute when he converted on a long, lofting pass from the far corner by Ryan Lima. Devine made two early saves in the second half on Campbell bids including one in the 50th minute on a header off a free kick was close to giving the Wolves back the lead. A furious 10-second stretch in the 79th minute saw a team save by a Beacon defender on a header by Norales, a block by another defender on a hard blast from just inside the box by sophomore
Brandon Salguero (Norwalk, Conn.), and a third just just wide by sophomore
Jhonn Padilla (Bronx, N.Y.).
Neither team threatened for the remainder of regulation time or in the first 10-minute overtime session. WestConn sophomore forward
Matthews Rocha (Danbury, Conn.) shot off target in the 100th minute, before UMass Boston's John Arruda sprinted to a cross from the left flank by teammate Cam Ramos and rocketed the ball into the goal to clinch the win and the league title for the visitors. Chirico was named the LEC Championship Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Ruggles finished with four saves and Devine had eight saves. WestConn totaled four corner kicks and the Beacons had two.
