Haverhill, MA (October 28, 2023) – Four goals from freshman Jadiel Bonfim (Nashua, NH), included two in the games opening five minutes propelled the Northern Essex Community College men's soccer into the Region 21 Championship game scheduled for Sunday at 3:00pm at Whittier Tech High School.
With the 6-1 win over the Community College of Rhode Island, NECC improves to 11-2-1 on the season and will play for their first ever region championship. On the line Sunday, the will be a trip to the eight team national tournament in Gastonia, North Carolina beginning November 7th.
Bonfim gave the Knights a lead they would never look back on, just 78 seconds into the match as he connected on a crossing pass from Othmane Elhatani (Methuen). Less than three minutes later he would find the back of the next again on a through ball from Gabe Moreira (Dracut). He recorded the first half hat trick in the 32nd minute as he took the ball through three defenders and beat the goaltender to the right side.
Jonathan Diaz (Methuen) gave the Knights a 4-0 half time lead when he connected on a free kick from 22 yards away in the 39th minute.
After a quiet start to the second half, CCRI got on the board in the 62nd minute, before Bonfim recorded his fourth of the game and 26th goal of the season in the 75th minute. Jeremy Beaton (Andover) capped the scoring in the 81st minute recording his first carerr goal with an assist credited to Diaz.
Will Paganini (Derry, NH) recorded seven saves over the games first 80 minutes to pick up the win in net, before giving way to Hadi Eid (Pelham) for the games final 10 minutes.
The Knights will be looking for their second win of the season against Bunker Hill after defeating the Bulldogs 2-1 in Boston on October 14th, where Bonfim picked up the game winning goal in the games closing seconds.