Bomfim Player of the Year, Marote Coach of the Year, highlight six All-Region Selections

Haverhill, MA (November 6, 2024) – Six members of the Region 21 and Northeast District champion Northern Essex Community College men's soccer team were named to the All-Region teams as announced today. Highlighting the selections were Jadiel Bomfim (Nashua, NH) who was named Co-Regional Player of the Year and Eusebio Marote who was named Region 21 Coach of the Year.

The Player of Year Bomfim was joined on the first team with three of his teammates in goalie Will Paganini (Derry, NH), forward Sam Lucena (Tyngsborough) and midfielder Nikos Kakavitsas (Athens, GR). Second team honors went to center back Jonathan Lopes (Nashua, NH) and midfielder Christian Colem.

Marote, who was hired to restart the program prior to the 2019 season following a 20-plus year hiatus has led the Knights to their best season in school history. He picked up his 40^th career win in last weeks championship game.

Bomfim, who repeated as player of the year led the region in scoring for the second consecutive year as he recorded 15 goals and seven assists for 37 points on the season. He was also named the NJCAA Player of the Week back in mid-September when he recorded a five-goal week in a pair of wins of CCRI and NHTI. Heading into the national tournament he has 42 career goals in his two seasons with the Knights.

Paganini, a two-year starter in goal for the Knights lands on the All-Region first team for a second consecutive year as he has played all but two minutes of the season in goal for the Knights and recorded an .857 save percentage to go along with a .75 goals against average. He's recorded nine shutouts on the season and from September 24 through October 22 recorded a shutout streak that spanned 571 game minutes. He was named the NJCAA Goalie of the Week the week ending October 20^th.

Lucena, has made an immediate impact on the field for the Knights in his first season. He finished second on the team in scoring, which was also good for second in the region with 11 goals and four assists for 26 points. He recorded a hat trick back on September 10^th in the Knights 8-0 win over NHTI.

Kakavitsas, finds himself on the all-region team for a second consecutive year as he earned second team honors in the 2023. A stronghold in the defensive midfield he's recorded two goals and two assists on the season.

In his rookie campaign, Lopes has been a stronghold on the backline for Knights which held the opponent to just 12 goals in 16 games. Offensively he's contributed three goals and assist on the season while causing problems for the oppositions attack on the offensive end.

Colem, playing primarily on the outside backline has generated plenty of offense as he leads the region with 11 assists and has seven goals of his own for 25 points.

Winners of 14 straight games, the Knights will enter next week's national quarterfinal as the sixth seed with a 14-2 overall record and will take on third seeded Mohawk Valley on Tuesday November 12^th at 6:30pm on the campus of Genesee Community College in Batavia, NY