MONKS EDGE SAINTS IN GNAC QUARTERFINAL, 1-0

STANDISH, Maine – Junior Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine) scored in the 77th minute to propel #5/10 Saint Joseph's College (18-0-0) past Emmanuel College (5-11-2), 1-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Quarterfinal at the SJC Athletics Complex on Friday evening.

PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS

With the victory, top-seeded Saint Joseph's – ranked fifth and 10th nationally in the latest D3soccer.com and United Soccer Coaches weekly polls, respectively - advances to the semifinal round of the GNAC tourney and will host #4 Colby-Sawyer College (7-7-2), which defeated #5 Albertus Magnus College by a 2-0 score earlier today, on Tuesday at 5:30 PM.

For Emmanuel, the loss signals the end of the 2018 season.

THE REST OF THE STORY

The Monks maintained possession for the better part of the game and had multiple scoring chances, but did not find the back of the net until the 76:38 mark when junior Mitchell Duncan (Sanford, Maine) found a seam at the top of the box and chipped a left-to-right pass to Elliott, who steered a shot to the left side of the goal.

The Saints registered the first scoring chance of the night when freshman forward Robert Danielian (Watertown, Mass.) clanged a shot off the crossbar in the 11th minute. SJC senior Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.) knocked a header off the crossbar at the 49:30 mark.

THE KEEPERS

Saint Joseph's senior Blake Mullen (Manchester, N.H.) made a pair of saves to record his sixth shutout of the season while Emmanuel freshman Vincent Conelli (West Hartford, Conn.) – making his NCAA debut – kept the Saints in the game with 13 saves, including a handful of acrobatic stops, in the losing effort.

TEAM STATS

Saint Joseph's posted sizeable advantages in shots (26-5), shots on goal (14-2) and corner kicks (11-1) on the evening.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

Saint Joseph's is now 10-3-1 in the history of the series with Emmanuel College and has now topped the Saints in four-consecutive meetings.