Late Goal Sinks UB Men's Soccer At St. Thomas Aquinas In ECC Championship Semifinal

Sparkill, N.Y.-A goal by St. Thomas Aquinas' Juan Pablo Verea with just 3:51 remain in the second half at found the back of net off the goalpost lifted the top-seeded Spartans to a hard-fought 1-0 win over the fourth-seeded University of Bridgeport Purple Knights in the first East Coast Conference Men's Soccer Championship semifinal of 2021.  UB wraps up its season with a 5-7-5 record, and STAC moves on to face either the University of the District of Columbia of Molloy in Saturday's ECC Final at St. Thomas Aquinas with a 10-3-3 record.

Wednesday's match was incredibly even with each team taking 11 shots, with the Spartans outing six on frame to five for the Purple Knights.

Bridgeport held a 5-2 advantage in corners on the day, and St. Thomas Aquinas committed 26 fouls to 14 for UB.

Purple Knights goalkeeper Clement Anet (Cosse le Vivien, France) made five stops in net, as did STAC's Asier Vegas to notch the clean sheet for the winner.

Freshman Jose Uresti (Pharr, Tex.) led the Bridgeport offense taking three shots on the afternoon.

Also before the match, senior Hannes Nilsson (Tors, Sweden) was named the winner of the East Coast Conference's Elite 19 Award giving out at each of the ECC championships to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average amongst the competing teams.  Hannes has a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. as a math major.