Haverhill, MA (October 1, 2023) – Freshman Jadiel Bonfim (Nashua, NH) found the back of the net four times on Saturday afternoon as the Northern Essex Community College men's soccer team rolled over Bristol Community College in Region 21 action with a 6-1 victory. With the win, NECC improves its season record to 5-2-1 and 2-0-1 in region play.
Bonfim recorded a pair of first half goals to give the Knights a 2-0 lead at the break as he scored in both the 16th and 30th minutes, both goals were assisted by sophomore Jonathan Diaz (Methuen), the later of which would prove to be the game winner for NECC.
Seven minutes into the second half Kaleb Gianini (Lowell) recorded his first of two goals on the game as he got his foot on a crossing pass from Othmane Elhatani (Methuen) to give the Knights a 3-0 lead. Bonfim would add two more goals, first in the 57th minutes as he accepted a pass from Diaz and dribbled the ball past a pair of defenders and into the back of the net. Four minutes later Diaz and Bonfim would connect again for his fourth of the game.
Gianini closed out the scoring just 65 seconds after Bonfim's fourth goal when he one timed a pass from Nikos Kakavitsas (Athens, Greece) to the left side past a diving keeper.
Bristol scored their loan goal of the match with just over a minute remaining in the second half to prevent the Knights from recording their second consecutive shutout victory.
Will Panini (Derry, NH) recorded five saves for his second consecutive win and fifth of the season.
NECC will return to the pitch on Tuesday evening when they host Roxbury Community College on Tuesday night at 7:00pm on the turf at Whittier Tech High School.