Men's Soccer Championship Begins With Quarterfinal Contests Saturday

Men's Soccer Championship Begins With Quarterfinal Contests Saturday

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Six America East teams will play for the America East Men's Soccer Championship and a trip to the NCAA College Cup, where America East teams have advanced to the second round in eight of the last 11 years starting Saturday.

The tournament begins with a pair of quarterfinal contests as third-seeded Stony Brook hosts sixth-seeded Binghamton at 12 p.m. while fourth-seeded Albany entertains fifth-seeded New Hampshire at 6 p.m. Saturday. The teams that advance will play in the semifinal round on Wednesday, Nov. 7 with the Albany-New Hampshire winner playing at top-seeded Vermont at 1 p.m. and the Stony Brook-Binghamton winner playing at second-seeded UMBC at 7 p.m. The semifinal winners will meet for the America East title and a trip to the NCAA tournament on either Nov. 10 or 11 in a game that will be streamed live for free at AmericaEast.com.

Stony Brook (10-5-2), the defending league champion, begins its pursuit of a third America East title in four seasons. The Seawolves fell at Vermont, 2-1 in overtime in its final regular-season game to fall to the No. 3 seed. Binghamton (6-10-1) earned a tournament berth for the ninth time in 10 years, but comes in winless in its last seven games. The Bearcats own a decisive 21-10-2 all-time series edge, but the Seawolves have won four straight in the series, including a 2-1 win at at Binghamton on Oct. 10. The game will feature two of the top scorers in the league in the Seawolves' Leonardo Fernandes (22 pts, 9 goals, 6 assists) and the Bearcats' Jake Keegan (23 points, 10 goals, 3 assists).

Albany (6-11-0) clinched a tournament berth and a home quarterfinal game with its 1-0 double-overtime win at Hartford Saturday. Its the Great Danes' second straight championship berth and first home game since 2008. The Great Danes beat their opponent, New Hampshire (6-7-4), 3-1, on Oct. 13. The Wildcats earned an America East tournament bid after missing out last year by beating Boston U. in their final regular-season game on Oct. 27. Jordan Thomas picked up first-team all-conference honors at defender for the Wildcats while the Great Danes had a trio of all-rookie choices in Tim Allen, Philip Persson and Anthony Rozzano.

Visit America East's Championship Central throughout the tournament for links to in-game coverage, postgame reaction and much more.