Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. â€" Western New England College and Johnson & Wales added another chapter in their intense men's soccer rivalry Saturday.
The Golden Bears, ranked 11th nationally, couldn't hold an early lead as the Wildcats rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory in the championship match of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament at Suprenant Field.
JWU avenged a 1-0 regular season home loss to WNEC on September 17 and a 1-0 defeat to the Golden Bears in last year’s GNAC Tournament title game. Johnson & Wales also snapped Western New England College’s school record 14-game winning streak in earning an automatic invitation to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Wildcats (15-5-1) have a 12-0-1 record since September 21.
Top-seeded Western New England College (19-2) took a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal by junior Kofi Oteng (Worcester, MA) in the 13th minute and that was the margin at intermission. Johnson & Wales, the second seed, tied the match on a goal by sophomore Brian Sousa (Raynham, MA) just 1:47 into the second half. The game remained scoreless for almost 49 minutes until Sousa (the tournament MVP) tallied the winner in the 98th minute.
Western New England College landed three players on the All-GNAC Tournament Team, senior Paul Russo (Dix Hills, NY), and juniors Tim Larocca (East Longmeadow, MA) and Mike Zawislak (Newark, DE). JWU also had three players selected on the All-Tournament squad, seniors Patrick Soderberg (Lerum, Sweden) and Bryan Supple (Cumberland, RI), and junior Richard Bouvier (Smithfield, RI).
Despite the loss, the Golden Bears are in contention to receive an invitation to the NCAA Division III Championship that starts next week at campus sites. With the field expanded to 57 teams,  Western New England College is expected to receive one of 17 Pool C bids when the pairings are announced on Monday.
