News Release
Leopards Fall to Cadets, 2-1, in ECAC Title Game
NORTHFIELD, Vt. � Junior forward Rob Harlow (West Springfield, Mass.) scored a pair of second half goal to lift the Norwich men's soccer team to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Wentworth in the ECAC Championship match contested Sunday afternoon at Howard Field.
The Cadets, who finish their outstanding 2007 campaign with an impressive 19-3-1 overall record, secured the first ECAC Championship in the history of the program.
The game was scoreless into the second half, and it was Wentworth (15-6-1) that struck first, tallying the first goal of the game in the 54th minute when junior forward Geoff Hackett (Medfield, Mass.) served a corner kick into the box, where senior midfielder Chris Hartmann (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) headed it to the near side for his school-record 16th tally of the season.
Harlow, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, then took matters into his own hands, scoring two unassisted goals in the final 35 minutes to secure the victory. The junior netted the equalizer in the 57th minute, and then scored the game-winning goal with 4:19 remaining in the contest.
Senior keeper Jake Pagragan (Richland, Ind.) made five saves in the Norwich goal to earn the victory. Wentworth senior Joe Simon (Pittsfield, Mass.) turned aside five saves in the loss. Norwich outshot Wentworth, 18-17, and the Cadets held an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Playing in his final game as a Leopard, Hartmann concludes the 2007 campaign with a school-record 16 goals to go along with 42 points, which is also the highest seasonal point total in school history. For his career, he scored 33 goals (third all-time) and a school-best 24 assists for 90 points (third all-time).
This game featured the runner-up teams from their respective conferences, as eight days ago Norwich was defeated by Johnson & Wales in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference title game, while on that same day, Wentworth was bested by Western New England in The Commonwealth Coast Conference championship. Ironically, Johnson & Wales and Western New England met in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last Wednesday, with WNEC winning a 2-1 overtime thriller.
Submitted 2007-11-11 14:36:15 by Wentworth Institute of Technology Sports Information Department
