Oggiano and own goal give Seahawks 3-2 double OT championship victory over Gulls

NEWPORT, R.I. (November 9, 2019) - Salve Regina University men's soccer celebrated its fourth Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship after a 3-2 double-overtime victory against Endicott College at Toppa Field in Newport, Rhode Island.

Following a scoreless first half (which followed back-to-back regular-season meetings between the two schools that were both 0-0 after 110 minutes - 2018 and 2019), the CCC Offensive Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete Evan Couchot (Mason, Ohio) put the visitors on top with a penalty kick less than a minute into the second. Couchot registers a perfect 8-for-8 in PKs in 2019 and notches his career-best 23rd goal of the season.

Salve Regina (14-4-3) got the equalizer less than four minutes later. Senior captain Noah Medeiros (Dartmouth, Mass.) picked a perfect spot for his free kick 20 yards out on the top, but Gulls' freshman keeper Zach Regulbuto (Somers, Conn.) guessed correctly to make a spectacular save, knocking the ball over his cross bar for a Seahawk corner kick.

After the corner was booted out of bounds, fellow senior captain Evan MacDonald (Candia, N.H.) tossed into classmate Dana Sundell (Nantucket, Mass.) who touched it back to MacDonald. The Seahawks' leading scorer gave a cross to sophomore Alessandro Oggiano (Stoughton, Mass.) who headed in his team-leading 11th goal of the season.

Endicott (12-6-2) had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 66th minute when Matthew Cronin (Glastonbury, Conn.) drilled a laser off the cross bar from 12 yards out.

The Gulls did regain the lead in the 67th minute when freshman Gabriel Chaves (Secaucus, N.J.) danced along the goal line in the corner to create space for a cross to center that his classmate William Poreda (Duxbury, Mass.) finished into the back of the net for his sixth of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Oggiano notched his 12th of the season after getting a deflection from freshman Dylan Sock (Newtown, Conn.) on freshman John Reichert's (Bordentown, N.J.) shot from 30 yards out.

No more goals in regulation or the first 10-minute overtime period, with both Regulbuto and his counterpart, Salve Regina freshman Seth Wolins (Wake Forest, N.C.), denying several scoring opportunities.

Oggiano was in position for a hat trick on the game-winning goal, and that position forced a Gull defender to attempt a header to clear, but it wound up escaping Regulbuto for the game-winner with 2:53 left in second overtime.

Regulbuto made nine saves in the contest, while Wolins improved to 9-1-3 on the season and stopped three Gulls shots.

Salve Regina earns its fourth title and third automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships; the 64-team field will be announced on Monday (1:30 p.m.) on NCAA.com.

NOTES FROM THE NEST

• Previous Seahawk championships - 1998, 2002, 2012 - with the latter two producing automatic bids to the NCAA Championships.
• This is only the third time Salve Regina has been the top seed in the tournament (1997, 2004, and 2019) and the first time the Seahawks have won as the No. 1 seed.
• In the last two seasons, Salve Regina men's soccer has produced a CCC regular-season record of 12-0-4; no loss to a conference foe in the regular season since Oct. 24, 2017 - versus Endicott at home.
• Seahawks were making their ninth appearance in the conference championship game, and sixth time hosting in Newport - home venues have included Reynolds Field (3), Fort Adams (2), and now Toppa Field (1).
• Over their last three meetings (today and 2018 + 2019 regular season) these teams had played over 265 consecutive scoreless minutes until Couchot's penalty kick.
• The Gulls lead the all-time series, 11-7-5, but the only previous postseason meeting ended in a scoreless draw in the quarterfinals on November 1, 2014.
• Before today, the Seahawks last won in the series on October 12, 2013 (1-0) on Reynolds Field.
• Since 2003, that's only the third win for the Seahawks in a game going into double overtime (22 times; 3-6-13).