Box Score WATERVILLE, ME- The top-seeded Thomas (15-2-2) men's soccer team has claimed the 2012 North Atlantic Conference championship after a 3-0 victory over second-seeded Husson University (15-5) on Saturday evening. It is Thomas's second NAC title in the last three years.
In front of a large and spirited crowd, the game was intense from the opening kickoff. Husson had a couple of early chances to strike first, but were unable to connect. Senior James Crockford (Watford, England) put a header on goal but was just high and struck the crossbar. Husson had early control over the flow of the game, but Thomas was able to swing things in their favor and would find the net for the game's first goal in the 38th minute when sophomore Kenny Cano (Lowell, Mass.) put a through ball to junior Michael Hand (Essex, England) who bent it to the right side of the net for the 1-0 lead.
The game would stay at 1-0 until the half, and Thomas would keep their momentum going into the second half, when just over 12 minutes in Hand would return the favor for Cano, setting him up with a through ball that Cano would bury past the keeper to the right for the 2-0 Terrier lead.
After the sluggish start to the match, the Terrier defense was strong throughout and only allowed two shots on goal, both of which were saved by junior keeper Mikkail Crockwell (St. David's, Bermuda). They shut down 2012 NAC Player of the Year sophomore Phil Frost (Bangor, Maine), who recorded zero shots.
Thomas would put in the game's third and final goal in the 63rd minute when sophomore Khamisi Lightbourne (Sandy's, Bermuda) received a pass from junior Paul Rechichi (Kingsley, Australia) and struck it off the hands of Eagle sophomore keeper Brian Potter (Waterville, Maine) and into the net to put the Terrier lead at 3-0, which hold until the final horn and an NAC title for Thomas.
Thomas held the edge in shots 16-8 and shots on goal at 6-2. Overall for the NAC tournament, Thomas outscored their opponents 11-0.
With the victory, Thomas collects an automatic qualifier into the NCAA DIII Men's Soccer Tournament, which begins late next week. The selection show for the tournament will be on Monday at 1pm.
The 2012 NAC All-Tournament Team was announced following the Terriers' on-field celebration and five players from Thomas were represented as Crockwell was named Tournament MVP, while Hand, Rechichi, Lightbourne, and Joshua Phelps (Maroochydor, Australia) also received honors.
Frost, Crockford, Chris DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine) and Stephen Berenyi (Levant, Maine) collected all-tourney honors for Husson.
