SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 31, 2015) - Second-seeded Western New England University won its fourth consecutive game with a 2-0 shutout of seventh-seeded Nichols College this afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Men's Soccer Championship at Suprenant Field.
 
With the win, the Golden Bears (11-7, 8-1 CCC) advance to the CCC Championship semifinals, where they will host third-seeded Gordon College (13-4, 7-2 CCC) on Tuesday at 1 p.m. The Scots came from behind to earn an improbable 2-1, overtime win against Roger Williams University in their quarterfinal matchup today. Nichols likely sees its season come to a close at 7-12 and 3-7 in the CCC.

After playing through over 40 minutes of scoreless action this afternoon, the Golden Bears took a 1-0 lead at the 42:01 mark on a Nichols own goal. Western New England junior forward Alan Haberern (Durham, Conn.) sent a throw into the box towards the near post, and Bison senior goalkeeper Alex Geas (Somers, Conn.) mishandled the ball in traffic, tipping it over his head. Junior back David Melanson (Simsbury, Conn.) attempted to stop the ball from crossing the goal line, but was unsuccessful as the Golden Bears grabbed the lead heading into the half.

Sophomore forward Troy Remillard (Palmer, Mass.) then put the finishing touches on the Western New England triumph in the 88^th minute, when he collected a rebound following a shot by sophomore midfielder Logan Pingree (Middletown, Conn.) and beat Geas for his team-leading 12^th goal of the season (T-1^st in CCC). Remillard, who was named to the All-CCC first team earlier this week, has now scored in three consecutive matches and has seven goals in Western New England's last six contests overall.
 
All-CCC third team selection Kevin Strobel (Rockland, Mass.) made six saves in net, five of which came in the second half, en route to his second clean sheet of the season. Geas turned aside seven shots on the other end for the Bison.

Nichols held a 20-17 advantage in overall shots this afternoon, but the Golden Bears put nine of theirs on target compared to six for the visitors. Both teams were held to just one corner kick.