STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (13-1-2, 12-0-0 GNAC) blanked Dean College (3-13-0, 2-10-0 GNAC), 5-0, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer action at the SJC Athletics Complex on a rainy Tuesday evening. Graduate student Colin Grant (Harvard, Mass.) scored three goals and assisted on another in the lopsided triumph.

With the win, Saint Joseph's officially claims the top seed in the GNAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal play this Saturday. Kick-off time and opponent will be determined following the completion of the conference docket tomorrow evening.

NOTEWORTHY:

With the victory, the Monks extend their GNAC regular-season undefeated streak to 54 games and cap the year with an unblemished conference record for the second time in 15 years as a GNAC member. St. Joe's has posted a 50-0-4 record since suffering their last conference setback over six years ago: a 2-0 loss at Lasell University on October 21st, 2015.

Saint Joseph's also notched a perfect GNAC regular season with an 11-0-0 record in 2018.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Graduate student Noah Elmore (Berlin, Vt.) put the Monks on the board just 54 seconds into the game when he netted his second goal of the year off a perfectly-threaded lead pass from senior Austin Ward (North Andover, Mass.). Grant potted his first marker of the evening in the 33rd minute off a short pass from Quinn Hewitt (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) as the hosts carried a 2-0 cushion into intermission.

In the 48th minute, Grant assisted on Ward's sixth tally of the year to make it a 3-0 game and, 22 minutes later, hit pay-dirt off a Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil) pass to lift his team to a four-goal advantage. Grant capped the game-scoring and completed the hat trick effort with a penalty-kick goal at the 77:54 mark.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held sizeable leads in shots (34-4), shots on goal (17-1), and corner kicks (8-3) in the victory.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC starter David Walbridge (Hampden, Mass.) did not face a shot in 60 minutes and 32 seconds in goal while freshman Liam Foley (Middleton, Mass.), who made his NCAA debut in the triumph, made one save in 29:32 of relief duty.

Dean netminder Bryce Antoch turned away 12 shots in the losing effort.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Tonight's meeting between Dean and Saint Joseph's was the first-ever between the institutions' men's soccer programs. The Bulldogs are in their first season (second year) as a member of the conference.

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