Merrimack Men's, Women's Soccer Open up NE-10 Championship Wednesday at Home
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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After earning the program's first Northeast-10 Conference regular-season championship since 1997, the 12th-ranked Merrimack men's soccer team will open up the NE-10 Championship on Wednesday afternoon, as the top-seeded Warriors will play host to the eighth-seeded AIC Yellow Jackets in the NE-10 Championship Quarterfinals at Martone-Mejail Field at 7 p.m.
Before the men's match, the women's team – which earned the right to host a first-round game as well as the No. 4 seed – will welcome fifth-seeded Franklin Pierce at 4 p.m.
The Warrior men enter Wednesday's match on a season-high 11-game unbeaten streak and boast a 12-2-2 overall record. With one more win today, the team will match the previous program record of 12 consecutive contests without a loss. Merrimack's defense has been among the nation's best, as the squad's 0.46 goals against average is the third best in the entire country. Leading the pack has been sophomore goalkeeper Jose Silva (Northborough, Mass.), whose save percentage of .884 is the second best in the country, as well.
The men's squad sat in third place heading into the last week of the regular season before earning a pair of wins at home over Saint Michael's and Saint Rose. That, combined with losses from Southern New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell each, allowed the Warriors to claim the regular-season title on the last day of the season in thrilling fashion on their home pitch, and now will have the rights to host throughout the NE-10 Championship.
The women's side, meanwhile, sat in sixth place entering the final week of the season. After downing Bentley, 1-0, at home, the Warriors fell at Assumption to close out the regular season. But thanks to losses from New Haven and Franklin Pierce, Merrimack rose from sixth to fourth in the standings thanks to the league tiebreaker policy and earned the rights to host the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Should both teams advance, the Merrimack men will host either fourth-seeded Bentley or fifth-seeded Franklin Pierce on Friday night in the Semifinals. The women, meanwhile, would need some help from the lower-seeded teams in the tournament to earn another home game, otherwise a win would send them on the road to face top-seeded AIC on Friday night.
The NE-10 Championship Finals will be held Sunday at the sites of the highest seeds remaining. For continuing coverage of postseason men's and women's soccer, check back online at www.merrimackathletics.com and at www.northeast10.org.
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For continuing coverage of Merrimack athletics, check back online at www.merrimackathletics.com, and follow the Warriors on Twitter @MC_Athletics.
