COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's soccer team is set to visit Franklin Pierce University on Saturday for a Northeast 10 Conference Championship first-round contest at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and children, and free for students at NE10 institutions with a valid ID.
 
The Purple Knights (8-5-3, 4-3-2 NE10) enter the tournament as its No. 6 seed, while Franklin Pierce (9-3-3, 6-1-2 NE10) is the No. 3 seed. The teams meet in the postseason for the first time after the Ravens took a wild 4-3 win when they met on Oct. 7 in Colchester, netting the winner late in the 89th minute. Franklin Pierce, the national champion in 2022 and 2023, was fifth in this week's NCAA Super-Region 1 rankings.
 
Highlighting the Purple Knights' season was a 2-0 win at regionally-ranked Adelphi University, as senior Muntasir Ahmed (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy/West Virginia Wesleyan) netted both goals. Classmate Garrett Smith (Gorham, Maine/Bridgton Academy/Bryant) had two saves in a scoreless draw at regionally-ranked Southern Connecticut State University, while three one-goal losses came against regionally-ranked squads, including a 1-0 loss at national No. 3 Southern New Hampshire University. Smith made five saves that day.
 
In Saturday's other first-round games, No. 2 Southern New Hampshire hosts No. 7 American International College at 4 p.m. and No. 4 Adelphi takes on No. 5 Southern Connecticut State at 6 p.m. The winner of the Purple Knights' contest faces the victor of Southern New Hampshire/AIC in a Nov. 12 semifinal. The Adelphi/Southern Connecticut State winner heads to No. 1 Bentley University that day. The championship game is slated for Nov. 15 at the home of the highest-remaining seed.
 
A balanced offense is led by senior captain Jack Andrews (Beverly, Mass./Bishop Fenwick), who owns five goals, three game-winners and 13 points, and junior Ronnie Riby-Williams (Montpelier, Vt./Montpelier), whose three goals and five assists have primarily come in a reserve capacity. Senior captain Mikel Penin (Bergara, Basque Country/Ipintza Institutua/Spring Hill) adds five assists and nine points, also primary as a key sub, while five more players have seven points. Among them are senior captain Xolo Miralles (Vinaròs, Spain/IES Leopoldo Querol/Otero), who commands the midfield, and sophomore back Rodrigo Salamanca Lopez (Madrid, Spain/Colegio Internacional Aravaca), who has three goals as a standout on set pieces.
 
Smith anchors the defense with five shutouts and a 1.21 goals-against average. In just his second season with the program, the captain is already tied for sixth in school annals in career clean sheets (11) and tied for eighth in wins (15). A deep defensive corps has seen Salamanca Lopez, senior captains Drew Kull (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) and Jacob Leone (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit), junior Alvaro Macias-Cazorla (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain/The American School of Las Palmas), sophomores Diego Aplicano (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) and Yihun Burnham (Middletown, Conn./Middletown), and first-year Liam Weldon (Essex, Vt./Shattuck-Saint Mary's School) all provide regular contributions.
 
Now in his 16th year at Saint Michael's (2006-07, 2012-now), head coach Wade Jean has a school-record 99 wins while claiming more than 200 wins during his 27-year college head coaching career, having previously had successful stints at Division I Duquesne University and former local JUCO national power Champlain College.