PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Following their semifinal victories on Thursday, top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University and third-seeded Western Connecticut State University will meet in the title match of the 2021 Little East Conference Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament. The Warriors will host the conference final Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
No. 1 Eastern Connecticut 3, No. 4 Rhode Island College 1

Behind a pair of goals from Jackson Trierweiler and the return of Logan Brennan, Eastern came away with a 3-1 victory to earn a spot in the Little East Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday for the seventh time under head coach Greg DeVito. The last time the Warriors made the championship in 2019, they fell 1-0 against Keene State at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
A match that started off fast-paced for both teams would not yield many scoring opportunities in either direction Thursday. The first real chance from either team came from Rhode Island College in the 19th minute off a Warrior turnover in the defensive zone. Junior forward Luis Blanco would find a hole in the Eastern defense, streak down the left side of the field, and fire his shot wide of the goal mouth harmlessly out of play.
 
Moments later in the 19th minute, junior forward Ryan Sirois (Tolland) would manufacture a chance of his own off a misplayed ball in the Anchormen's zone. Sirois would be unable to get any air underneath his shot and it would be easily gathered by senior goalkeeper Charlie Tashjian on the right side of the net.
 
The first half would continue to wear on with physical play from both sides, but neither defense breaking under the pressure from their opposition's offensive attack. But in the waning moments of the first 45, the Warriors would finally get on the scoreboard started by a free kick by junior defender Larson Richards (Mansfield). Richards would fire the ball towards the center of the box where Sirois would get a piece of it and find Trierweiler to the right of him with an open net. Trierweiler would finish the scoring opportunity and put Eastern ahead in the 44th minute as well as into the half, 1-0.
 
The Warriors would threaten immediately once the second half got underway when Sean Cafferty found Walter Scudder in the offensive zone. Scudder would look ahead to Sirois who sprinted by the Rhode Island College defense with only Tashjian to beat on the left side but fired the ball wide left of the goal to keep the Eastern lead at one.
 
Still ahead by only one, the Anchormen looked to knot up the match in the 64th minute with their first shot on goal of the afternoon. Following a throw-in from senior Roman Davis, a touch pass made its way to the dangerous senior midfielder Sa-Leem Kamarah who immediately rifled the ball which was saved by Dylan Pallanck.

Eventually, Eastern would extend their lead with Trierweiler earning his second goal of the afternoon in the 71st minute. It would be another Richards free kick in the offensive zone which came off of a Rhode Island College defender's head before caroming off Trierweiler's head into the left side of the net. The defender now has three career goals, all of which have come during his senior season in which he has seen 388 minutes of playing time, the most since his first year with the team in 2018.
 
With all the momentum on their side, the Warriors continued to attack the Anchormen on offense and it would bring about another goal just two minutes later. This time it would come from Logan Brennan off a pass from Ryan Jamieson as the first-year forward maneuvered through the defense and beat Tashjian on the left side of the goal to put Eastern ahead 3-0. The goal was Brennan's third of the season as he made his return to the Warrior lineup after missing the last month due to injury and last appeared on October 3rd against Pratt Institute.
 
Rhode Island College would get one back in the 82nd minute when graduate defender James Petrella hit junior forward Brandon Ramos with a pass in the Warrior defensive zone before locating Kamarah trying to split the defense. Kamarah would work around a pair of Eastern defenders and beat Pallanck on the inside left post to cut the Eastern lead down to two. Although the Anchormen continued to apply pressure on offense for the final eight minutes, they would be unable to produce any quality chances to minimize their deficit any further as the Warriors came away with the 3-1 win.
 
Dylan Pallanck finished the game with three saves on four shot attempts while Charlie Tashjian made five saves against the Eastern offense on eight shot attempts.

No 3 Western Connecticut 1, No. 2 UMass Boston 0

Lorenzo Lauria tallied the lone goal of the contest to lead the third-seeded Western Connecticut State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory at second-seeded UMass-Boston in the Little East Conference Championship Tournament semifinal round on Thursday night. WestConn will meet top-seeded host Eastern Connecticut - who downed No. 4 Rhode Island College - in the league title game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

With the victory, the WestConn men's soccer team improved to 17-5 overall while the Beacon's season came to an end at 13-4-1 at James Cotter Field.

As advertised, it was a tightly contested matchup. The hosts nearly got on the board first in midway thru the opening half. However, Nilton Andrade's shot ricocheted off the crossbar.

It wasn't until the 71st minute of play until Lorenzo buried his ninth goal of the season to give WestConn the advantage.

Shortly thereafter, they nearly added an insurance marker but freshman Kadin Talho's shot banged off the iron.

DeAndrade had one last chance in the final 30 seconds, however, his blast sailed just wide of the right post. 

WestConn senior netminder Daniel Szabo notched four saves to earn the shutout win, while Beacon goalie JJ Devine finished with three stops.