Assiotis' Double Overtime Goal Gives Albany Second-Straight #AEMSOC Title
LOWELL, Mass. – For the second-straight year, Albany is the America East men’s soccer champion. Andreas Assiotis scored 2:56 into the second overtime period to give the fourth-seeded Great Danes a 1-0 win over second-seeded UMass Lowell in the conference’s championship game at the River Hawks’ Cushing Field Sunday afternoon.
With the game seemingly heading toward a penalty kick shootout, Assiotis took a feed from Carlos Clark in the box and blasted home his first career goal to give Albany (14-4-2) its second-straight league title.
The game was evenly played with each team taking eight shots. Albany held a 6-1 edge in corner kicks.
The Great Danes, who reached the third round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship last year, received the conference’s automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA tournament and will learn their draw on Monday at 1 p.m. The selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com. UMass Lowell (10-7-1) and New Hampshire (12-3-4) will also look for their names to be called as potential at-large selections.
Albany’s Daniel Krutzen was named the championship’s Most Outstanding Player. He was joined on the All-Championship team by teammates Clark, Nico Solabarrieta and Danny Vitiello, UMass Lowell’s Jakov Basic, Ivan Blaskic and Joe Kellett, Vermont’s Jon Bardda and Mikel Kabala, New Hampshire’s Kyle Brewster and Jake Gould, UMBC’s Jon Bell and Stony Brook’s Eric McKenna.
Albany’s Noah Waxner was the recipient of the 2017 America East men’s soccer Elite 18 award for having the highest GPA among championship game participants. The junior carries a 3.91 GPA while majoring in criminal justice.
Re-live the tournament by visiting Championship Central box scores, highlights and recaps in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
2017 America East Men’s Soccer Championship
All Games at Higher Seed
Quarterfinals – Saturday, November 4
at #4 Albany 1, #5 UMBC 1 (2OT) - Albany advances on PKs, 4-2
at #3 New Hampshire 1, #6 Stony Brook 0
Semifinals – Wednesday, November 8
at #2 UMass Lowell 2, #3 New Hampshire 1
#4 Albany 1, at #1 Vermont 0
Final – Sunday, November 12
#4 Albany 1, at #2 UMass Lowell 0 (2OT)
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