#6 Knights take down CCRI, advance to Region 21 Championship Game

Haverhill, MA (November 1, 2024) – The #6 nationally ranked and top seeded Northern Essex Community College men's soccer team picked up their 13^th consecutive win on Friday night with a 5-1 result and in the process advanced to the Region 21 championship game where they will take on third seed Quinsigamond Community College at 4:30pm at Whittier Tech High School. The Knights improve to 13-2 on the season and advance to their second straight title game looking for the programs first tournament championship and national tournament birth. 

The Knights controlled the pace of play throughout the game and broke the ice in the games 28^th minute on Jadiel Bomfim's (Nashua, NH) 14^th goal of the season when he collected the ball 30 yards out and ran past a pair of defenders and beat the goalie to the left side.

The Knights took a 2-0 advantage to halftime when Edwin SamMbaka (Paris, FR) got his foot on a corner kick from Christian Colem (Nashua) and tucked the ball in the lower left corner.

Sam Lucena (Tynsborough, MA) made it 3-0 in the 59^th minute when he took a penalty kick that the goalie made an initial save on, but the rebound came right back and he sent it in back in the goal.

Following a CCRI penalty kick goal in the 62^nd minute, NECC added a pair of goals in the 70^th and 81^st minutes.

Yassir Hounane (Salem, NH) blasted a goal home to the upper right corner when he took a pass from Angel Lopez (Lawrence) and Lucena closed out the scoring with his second of the game when he took a feed from Colem at the top of the box and beat the keeper to his right side.

Will Paganini (Derry, NH) picked up the win in goal as he made six saves for his 13^th win of the season.

Sunday's winner will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Batavia, NY scheduled to get underway on November 12^th.