BY COLE MCNANNA // OCT. 28, 2015 //

The Curry men’s soccer team continued to struggle in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), falling to 2-6-1 to finish its regular season conference schedule after dropping a contest with visiting Western New England, 4-1.

The Colonels’ last victory came on Sept. 30, at home against Westfield State.

Last night’s game didn’t have any bearing on the playoff tournament’s seeding, so head coach Pete Mendel put a little twist on his starting line up to see some different players.

“We were just trying to mix and match and give some guys some looks that we might not have seen a lot of this year,” said Mendel. “We knew we were in the tournament, so it wasn’t a high-risk type of game.”

The Golden Bears scored all four of their goals in the first half, two of which came in the game’s first fifteen minutes. Maurice Young put home a pass from Logan Pingree and Chad Burke, then put one in the net from Troy Remillard.

Sophomore Adam DiBrina started the game in goal for the Colonels. DiBrina is also a member of the Curry Ice Hockey team. He was brought on the roster after an injury to backup goalkeeper Kyle Yeager. However, DiBrina seemed to suffer an injury of his own after letting up the second goal, and was replaced by Dan Johnson who had started every game prior to yesterday’s.

With 24 minutes remaining in the half, Pingree recorded another assist as he set up Remillard for a shot from outside the right hash marks from ten yards out on Johnson’s second shot faced.

Western New England would connect once more before halftime when Alan Habernern scored to make it 4-0.  

“We just let them play, we weren’t strong enough, we weren’t tough enough,” said Mendel.

The second half was a different game for the Colonels, as they recorded nine of their 15 shots on goal. With just under two minutes left in the game, senior captain Rolando Montero connected from seven yards out after receiving a pass from classmate Matt Cotnoir.

“We have to start playing like a team, the first nine games we [went 9-0 and] we were moving the ball really well, we weren’t forcing it up top,” said Montero. “We just have to put the ball on the ground and just play soccer. We haven’t really played soccer at all.”

Mendel also noted how it was two different games from Curry between the two halves and it’s a matter of staying consistent throughout the game.

“We came out and we stepped up [in the second half],” said Mendel. The team will need to start out much better in their next game. They face an undefeated Endicott squad that finished 8-0-1 (becoming the regular season conference champions) in the first round of the CCC tournament.

“We can beat Endicott, we can beat [Western New England] I don’t think it really matters,” said Montero. He also said that despite losing last night, the team knows they have a good chance regardless of who they play.

The Colonels took Endicott to double overtime the last time they played them, eventually losing a close 2-1 contest. If Curry is able to step up, and play their brand of soccer from the opening whistle against the Gulls, they should be able to rebound from that loss.

“We’re excited to see who we play,” noted Coach Mendel. “I think we’ve played really well against either team we might face. Whoever we play we’re ready for.”

Hockey and…Soccer?: Sophomore Adam DiBrina started the game in net and recorded six saves in almost 16 minutes played before coming out due to injury. DiBrina played in 15 games last year for the Ice Hockey team and recorded five points as a forward.

Lucky Number 7: For the seventh time in Peter Mendel’s nine-season tenure, the Curry College Colonels are going to the Conference Tournament.

On to Endicott: Curry will travel to Endicott on October 31st at a time that has yet to be determined to open up the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament.