MILTON, Mass. - After a one-year hiatus, the Curry College men's soccer team returns to the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament, as the sixth-seeded Colonels will travel to third-seeded Gordon College for the CCC First Round on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Last Meeting
Gordon defeated Curry 2-1 when the two teams faced off earlier this season on October 7 at Walter M. Katz Field. All three goals were scored in the second half, with Benji Wright tallying both goals for Gordon and freshman Ray Weinstein (Goshen, N.Y.) scoring for Curry.

How They Got Here
Curry enters with an overall record of 8-6-3 on the season, and finished CCC play with a mark of 3-3-2. The Colonels ranked sixth in the CCC with 11 points. Gordon went 8-1-6 overall and 4-1-3 in CCC action to finish with 15 points points. Gordon was tied for second with Roger Williams, but the Hawks won the tiebreaker by defeating top-seeded Western New England on October 7.

Players to Watch
Curry junior Lucas Drons (Bellingham, Mass.) leads the Colonels with nine goals and 20 points this season, with three goals in his last two games. Drons has the game-winning goal in five of Curry's eight victories. 

Wright, whose two-goal performance helped to knock off Curry earlier this month, is Gordon's leader in goals with 10 and points with 22. No other Fighting Scot has found the back of the net three times this season, as freshman Henry McElroy and sophomore Benny Simpson have done.

Senior JD Santiago (La Plata, Md.) has been stellar for the Colonels this season, and serves as Curry's second-leading scorer with 16 points. His 10 assists leads the CCC by three, and he has also scored three goals of his own. Classmate Adam Pforr (Weymouth, Mass.) is Curry's second-leading goal scorer with six, while Giovanni Martins (Brockton, Mass.) has four.

Weinstein and senior Ean McGonigle (Rehoboth, Mass.) have each found the back of the net on three occasions for the Colonels this season.

Three different Colonels have seen time in net this season, but sophomore Brendan Cunningham (Middletown, N.Y.) has seen the bulk of the action with 11 starts in 17 games. Cunningham has a record of 6-2-3 with a 1.64 goals against average and .743 save percentage.

Hudson Bennett and Gunnar Lucuk have made nine and six starts respectively, and either could get the starting nod on Saturday afternoon. Bennett has a 0.78 goals against average and .868 save percentage, while Lucuk has a sparking 0.51 goals against average and .880 save percentage. 

From the Coach's Desk
"We are excited to get this group of seniors back to the playoffs," said Curry head men's soccer coach Peter Mendel. "The entire team has worked extremely hard this year to be successful and anything can happen in the postseason."

How to Watch
Saturday's CCC First Round contest between the Colonels and Fighting Scots will take place at Gordon's Brigham Athletic Complex, located at 255 Grapevine Road in Wenham, Mass. If you are not able to make the trip to the North Shore, live statistics and video will be available at curryathletics.com. 

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