Quincy Sun // November 1, 2018 // By Quincy Sun Staff
QUINCY —
Quincy College Granite Men’s Soccer had a historic post season appearance making it to Region 21 Final 4 in their first season of tournament eligibility.
Quincy College Granite Men’s Soccer entered the Region XXI playoffs with a strong 6 – 6 record, tripling the team wins from last year; their first season of fielding a team in the NJCAA. Quincy College faced #1 ranked National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), Massachusetts Bay Community College in the semi-finals losing by a score of 2 – 1 on Friday, October 26th.
Quincy College Granite dominated from the opening whistle putting constant pressure on the Buccaneers defense behind the efforts of #4 Lokens Exumat of Dorchester, #9 Kenny Ofori of Hartford, CT and #11 Herbie Milien of Dorchester. Quincy’s efforts finally paid off as #8 Alexxander Lopes of Dorchester banged a streaming shot off of the top post into the opposing net to give the Quincy College Granite a 1 – 0 lead heading into the half.
Strong play and defensive efforts of #14 Gareth McAlinden of Plymouth, #16 Annas Ashraf of Dorchester, #10 Thiago Goncalves Carvalho of Dorchester, and #7 Zedrick Moreira gave Quincy College Granite an upset in the making.
Massachusetts Bay Community College came out strong in the second half and thanks to the outstanding efforts of Quincy College Granite goalie #1 Nate Getman of Birmingham AL, and midfield efforts of #3 Rafael Garcia of Quincy, #2 Hamza Mohamednur of Cambridge, and #15 Kosta Dhembi. The score remained in Quincy College Granite’s favor until a goalmouth scramble resulted in a Massachusetts Bay Community College tying goal. Play went back and forth with strong scoring efforts by both teams. With 2 minutes to go in the second half, Massachusetts Bay Community College All-American Farley Asmath headed in a shot to send the Buccaneers to the region finals.
Quincy College Granite Head Coach Idris Senyonjo praised the efforts of his team:
“We have seen great overall improvement with only two seasons of Quincy College Granite Men’s Soccer play in the National Junior College Athletics Association. The future of Quincy Granite Men’s Soccer is bright. From our leadership on the field from returning soccer players like Thiago Carvalho, Hugo Ramos, Hamza Mohamednur, Kenny Ofori, Herbie Milien to the nucleus of Jeffrey Monteiro, Yvel Dorce, Annas Ashraf, Kosta Dhembi, Sejdi Velaj, Alexxander Lopes, Zedrick Moreira, Younes Errifi, Rafael Garcia. This year we had two NJCAA region leading players, individual offensive leader Lorkens Exumat and individual goalie leader Nate Getman. Exciting things are ahead for Granite Men’s Soccer for 2019. “
Athletic Director Jack Raymer reflected on the season: “ I would like to congratulate our Men’s Soccer team and their coaches, Head Coach Idris Senyonjo and Assistant Coach James Douvas for their tremendous effort this year in representing Quincy College in NJCAA Region 21 competition. The team made it to the Region 21 Final 4 in their first season of tournament eligibility. They fought a tough Massachusetts Bay team on Friday night before falling in the semi-finals by a score of 2 – 1. Thank you to the Quincy College community and the community at large in Quincy for their kind words of encouragement and support for our student athletes all throughout their successful soccer season. “
Quincy College Granite Athletics is looking ahead to their Men’s Basketball season which starts November 1st with a home game at the Lahue Physical Education Center at Eastern Nazarene College with tip-off at 8pm. View the full schedule of Granite Men’s Basketball Games: https://quincycollege.edu/mensbasketball/#schedule.