AMHERST, Mass. – The Roger Williams University men's soccer team is set for their first NCAA Tournament match since the 2013 season, when they take on #15 St. Lawrence in the opening round on Saturday.
Roger Williams (14-3-4, 6-2-1 CCC) enter a pod with St. Lawrence (13-1-5, 6-0-3 Liberty League), Husson (15-3-2, 8-0-1 NAC) and host Amherst (12-1-5, 4-1-5 NESCAC). The Hawks will take on the Saints, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the #6 Amherst and Husson on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1 pm.
Roger Williams enters the NCAA Tournament as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Champion, defeating Suffolk in the conference championship game, 2-1. For the Liberty League champion Saints, they defeated RIT 1-0 in the Liberty League semifinals and Skidmore 3-1 in the championship game.
Marvin Sibanda, has scored 11 goals and six assists on the season for a team-high 28 points, including a three-goal performance in the championship game against Skidmore. Offensively Miles Levy and Sam Pijpers are tied for second with 21 points each, with Levy leading the team with 11 assists, and Pijpers with nine goals on the season.
In net the Saints primarily have senior Ben Woelfinger in goal. Woelfinger has picked up a 12-1-3 record on the season in his 16 starts, playing a total of 1440 minutes in the cage. Woelfinger has 90 saves this season, while allowing 12 goals for a goals against average of 0.75. Backing him up is George Charalambous who has three starts with a 1-0-2 record 12 saves and a 1.67 GAA.
For Roger Williams the Hawks are led offensively, by All-CCC First Teamer,
Javi Beltran (Madrid, Spain) with 11 goals and seven assists for a total of 29 points.
Justin Horvath (Stratford, Conn.) is next on the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points, and
John McCarthy (Hampstead, N.H.) rounds out the top three-point getters for the Hawks with nine points on four goals and one assist.
In net
Jack Avellar (Orleans, Mass.) has been the man, starting 13 games, posting a 10-2-1 record with seven shutouts. The Hawks defensive unit has 11 shutouts on the season to the Saints eight. Avellar has a 1.08 GAA with 57 saves.
Hogan Cain (Nottingham, N.H.) will serve as the man in reserve starting five games, holding a 4-1-2 record on the season in his seven appearances.
Roger Williams and St. Lawrence will begin play in a match scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm at Amherst with the winner advancing to the NCAA Tournament Second Round. The match will be streamed coutesy of NSN and Amherst College.
