WESTON, Mass. - Amongst a flurry of activity over the final 27 minutes of regulation, eighth seed Regis College pulled ahead late in the second half and held on to defeat ninth seed Emmanuel College, 2-1, Thursday night in the first round of the 2023 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Tournament at Regis Stadium.
In the 64th minute, Federico Lavini-Ayalla (Weston, Fla.) advanced the ball towards the box and sent it forward, where Sebastian Ortiz (Carolina, Puerto Rico) was able to direct it into the net for his second goal in as many matches. For Lavini-Ayalla, it was the fourth time in the last five matches that he earned at least one point.
The Pride created a couple scoring opportunities to try and extend their advantage, including a shot on target by Paco De Juan (San Juan, Puerto Rico) in the 76th minute, but Emmanuel goalie Maddox Pierce was able to make the save. The Saints quickly went on the counterattack, with Seiki Thasith advancing the ball up the left side of the field. His crossing pass into the box found Joe Anderson for a header into the net that tied the match at 1-1.
Less than one minute later, Regis found itself back on the offensive, threatening the Saint goal. A clearing attempt by Emmanuel instead landed at the feet of Jeremiah Frias (San Diego, Calif.), whose blast found the upper right corner of the net for the go-ahead tally with 13:25 remaining in regulation.
Earlier in the second half, Emmanuel created a scoring opportunity as Guilherme Silva found space to advance the ball up the left side of the box. His shot went past Regis goalie Ethan Donahue (Methuen, Mass.), but William Comeiro (Woburn, Mass.) was backing Donahue up and cleared the ball away before it crossed the goal line.
Donahue finished with three saves as he earned his sixth victory of the season. He received help not only from his teammates, but also the woodwork, as a shot by Anderson midway through the first half hit off the crossbar and stayed out of the net. Pierce ended up with two saves in the match.
Regis College (7-10) is scheduled to face top seed Saint Joseph's College in the quarterfinals of the GNAC Tournament Saturday, Oct. 28, starting at 1 p.m. Emmanuel's season concludes with a 6-11-1 overall record.