Posted: Oct 30, 2022
Concord, NH - The CMCC Mustangs faced off against the Albany College of Pharmacy Panthers in the Yankee Small College Conference tournament championship final. CMCC was looking to add the tournament championship to the regular season championship. Having played to a 1-1 draw earlier in the season this had the potential to be a close game.
The Mustangs started on the front foot and maintained the majority of the possession early on. Ryan Herrick in the Albany goal was the busier of the goalkeepers. CMCC would score the go ahead goal mid way through the first half. A quick interchange of play on the right between Romano Bassa, Isidoro Domingues found Abdifatah Yussuf. Abdifatah crossed the ball to Mosses Lumu who powered his header back across the Albany keeper to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead.
It wasn't all plain sailing for the Mustangs as with 36 mins on the clock a clash of bodies in the box resulted in a Panthers penalty kick. Nyagasaza in the Mustangs goal would be the hero as his superb diving save kept the score 1-0 until the half.
The second half was a tense affair as both teams defended well. the Mustangs outshot the Panthers 18-9 in total, but despite this tally neither team would find the net.
With over 6 mins of stoppage time added the final whistle seemed like it would never come. A hard foul on Lumu would signal the end of the game and bring a repeat YSCC tournament championship back to Auburn, Maine.
Abdifatah Yusuff won the tournament MVP, to add to his all conference team selection. Ivan Domingues was awarded the offensive player of the tournament. Oleksandr Bruno joined Yusuff on the all conference team, and Coach Kiaran McCormack won coach of the year.
With the tournament championship win the Mustangs qualify for the USCAA DII national finals in Virginia Beach, 11/10-11/14.
