Men’s and Women’s Soccer Final Four set for Saturday at NHTI

CONCORD, N.H. – The pairings are set for the Yankee Small College Conference Soccer Championship this weekend at NHTI. The regular season ended last weekend and the four play-in games have been completed to add the final two teams for both men and women.

The Women will take to the pitch first Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m. with NHTI taking on SMCC and PSC versus UMM.

NHTI, 6-0 in YSCC play earned the top spot in the west. The Lynx are led by Shannon Hart and Stefani Gauthier. Hart leads the conference with 21 goals on the season, seven more than the second spot. Gauthier leads the conference in assists (11). The duo are the top two in points on the season. Hart has 50 and Gauthier tied for second with 31. The Lynx have outscored their opponents 55-9 this season.

Southern Maine Community College gave up nine goals on the season on their way to a 4-1-1 conference record. The goalkeeper duo of Tori Strain and Kaitie Roads have a combined goals against average of 0.79 and a .809 save percentage. The leading goal scorer is Zyrah Giustra with 10 on the season. Hannah Fields and Kym Hendrix have nine goals each for the Seawolves. UMM knocked off Unity 1-0 in a play-in game to advance to the semifinals. Southern Maine topped the Lynx, 1-0 in the only season matchup back on September 9^th.

UMaine Machias finished the season on top of the east division with a 4-0-2 in conference play. The Clippers lead the conference with 62 goals with 31 coming in the six conference games. Brooklynne Lewis led the Clippers in the regular season with 14 goals, second in conference.

Paul Smith's topped Hampshire College, 5-2 in the West play-in game. The Bobcats finished the season with a 4-3 record in conference play. Nicole Landry leads the team in goals with 12 and three assist. PSC netted 20 conference goals on the season. The Bobcats and Clippers did not meet in the regular season.

On the Men's side SMCC will take on NHTI and CSJ matches up with Unity Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Southern Maine Community College finished with a 5-1 conference record going into the final four. The Seawolves have the conference leader in saves (115) and save percentage (.827) in Drew Martin. The Seawolves' Sean Jackson leads the team with eight goals in the season.

NHTI (6-2 in YSCC) held off Vermont Tech, 2-1 in the play-in game to advance to the semifinals. The Lynx are led by Wayne Child and Semir Sandzic. Child netted 10 goals and had six assists on the regular season and Sandzic had six goals while assisting in four. The teams did not meet in the regular season.

The College of Saint Joseph's finished on top of the East Division with a 7-1 record. The Fighting Saints have the conference's leading scorer in Dominick Simpson with 14 goals. CSJ surrendered only 16 goals on the season for the top spot in the conference. Julio Garcia gave up 13 goals and had a 1.19 goals against average to lead the Fighting Saints in net.

Unity College knocked off UMM in the play-in game to advance to the semifinals. The Bobcats (3-4 in YSCC) are led by Francesco Gurrero with six goals and one assist. Mackenzie Michaud played every minute in net for Unity College giving up 31 goals on the season and recording three shutouts. The teams did not meet in the regular season.

The winners of the games will play in the YSCC Championship games Sunday morning. The Women play at 11:00 a.m. and the Men begin at 11:45 a.m.