National Rankings: Soccer holds at #6, Men’s Basketball #5 in Preseason Poll
As fall sports begin to head into post-season play and winter sports get started, a pair of Northern Essex Community College programs find themselves among the nation’s best.
Haverhill, MA (October 21, 2024) – As fall sports begin to head into post-season play and winter sports get started, a pair of Northern Essex Community College programs find themselves among the nation's best. The Knights men's soccer program remains in the #6 position for a second consecutive week in the NJCAA Week 8 poll after entering the top ten in week six, while the NECC men's basketball team is ranked fifth in the preseason poll as they appear in the rankings for a 28th consecutive poll.
Men's Soccer
Winners of 11 straight games including six consecutive shutouts, the Knights have held the opposition scoreless over the last 569 minutes of game action heading into tomorrow's regular season finale on the road at Springfield Tech. NECC has secured the top seed in the Region 21 tournament, earning a first-round bye and will host a semi-final game on Friday November 1st at Whittier Tech.
Will Pagnini (Derry, NH) enters the final week of the season currently ranked fifth nationally with a 0.54 goals against average while leading all goalkeepers nationally with 11 victories.
Offensively, Jadiel Bomfim (Nashua, NH) leads the Knights offense with 12 goals and four assists for 28 points and is followed closely behind by Christian Colem (Nashua, NH) who enters the final week of the season with 22 points on seven goals and eight assists. Sam Lucena (Tynsborough), Lucas Cantelli (Lowell) and Nikos Kakavitsas (Athens, GR) all have double digit points with 18, 14 and 11 respectively.
Jonathan Lopes (Nashua, NH) and Conor FitzGerald (Danvers) have been anchoring the backline in front of Paganini that has held the opposition to just seven goals in 13 contests to date.
Men's Basketball
The back to back Region 21 Champions will feature a new look in the new season as they return just three players with previous experience in the Knights uniform, though a talented and deep roster should have the Knights in contention for a third straight trip to the national tournament.
Javien Kirmil (Lowell) who appeared in 33 games last season with 18 starts is back with Karl Wolfgang (Douala, CM) who saw action in 30 games with 13 starts will be joined by Ryan Pacy (Salem, NH) who returns from the 2022-23 team where he averages 8.8 points per game in 21 appearances while battling through injury.
Kirmil and Wolfgang combined for 14.4 points a game last season. The Knights have combined to go 65-4 over the last two years and have been unbeaten in league play during that time.
A trio of former Merrimack Valley stars in Joendy Rosario (Lawrence), Jeremy Valdez (Haverhill) and Alejandro Delgado (Haverhill) join the mix this season. Also joining the team and expected to make an immediate impact are Christian Sanders (East Boston) and Yunosuke Matsuda (Tokyo, JP).
The Knights are set to open up their season on Saturday November 2nd against Monroe-Bronx in Lincroft, NJ at the Brookdale Basketball Classic.