Seahawks advance to semifinals with 1-0 win over Roger Williams

NEWPORT, R.I. - Sophomore Patrick Vierengel (Armonk, N.Y.) (right) scored his fourth goal of the season at 60:36 and sophomore Devin O'Gorman (Canton, Mass.) made three saves to propel the Salve Regina University men's soccer team past Roger Williams University 1-0 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Field. The No. 4 seed Seahawks advance to face the winner of No. 1 Nichols-No. 8 Endicott on Wednesday in their quest for first conference championship since 2002.

The No. 5 seed Hawks outshot the Seahawks 7-2 in the opening half but were unable to put one past O'Gorman, who notched all three of his saves in the first 45 minutes of play. Just over 15 minutes into the second half, junior Ian Jentgen (Columbus, Ohio) (right) sent a free kick into the box that was played by sophomore Bobby Ernst (Needham, Mass.) over to Vierengel, who flicked the ball over the head of goalkeeper senior Peter Plate (Commack, N.H.).

"This is a great win for us against a young but extremely talented Roger Williams side, which is going to be very dangerous in the years to come," said Seahawks head coach Craig O'Rourke II. "Today, I thought we did what needed to do in order to put ourselves in position to win this match. We defended well and won the 50-50 balls when they had possession. We made absolutely certain to man-mark (RWU back) Kamali Webson on any and all set pieces and corners. We could have kept possession better and not have been as direct in our attack, but in the end, Vierengel was the difference-maker for us. I thought he was very good in the first half with the minutes he had and absolutely exceptional in the second half. The goal was a brilliant bit of finishing with his head and Ernst did well to create the chance for him."

The Seahawks (13-5-1) - whose 13 wins are their highest total since 2002 - were outshot 14-6 on the afternoon but held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks. Plate finished with three saves for the Hawks while junior Liam Isleib (Killingsworth, Conn.) led them with five shots. For Salve Regina, junior Sean McAllister (North Arlington, Mass.) had three of the team's six shots.

The Hawks end their season 7-9-3.