BROCKTON, Mass. ---- A rivalry that has spanned for more than a decade will have its final showdown on Saturday, when No. 13 Dean College hosts Massasoit for the Region 21 Championship at Longley Field in Franklin at 1 p.m.
Saturday will mark the final time the two colleges will face off as conference opponents. Dean College will be leaving the NJCAA ranks and transitioning to a four-year college, competing at the NCAA Division III level.
The match marks the 10th time in the last 14 years that the Warriors and Bulldogs will meet for the regional crown, with Massasoit holding a 7-2 edge in those previous contests.
Both programs are the cream of the crop when it comes to men's soccer in Region 21, with Dean sporting an undefeated record of 15-0 and Massasoit entering the finals at 11-5 overall.
Massasoit, which has won 23 Region 21 Championships in program lore, and nine of the last 11, will enter Saturday as the underdog to the nationally ranked Bulldogs. Dean earned victories against Massasoit in the two meetings during the 2015 regular season, 3-2 on Sept. 16 in Brockton, and 4-0 in Franklin on Oct. 14.
There is a silver lining for the Warriors, as they have won nine of their last 10 matches on the season, with the lone loss coming at Dean, and have outscored the opposition 56-8 over that stretch. In addition, the stout Dean defense has posted 11 shutouts on the season and has only allowed more than one goal once, back when Massasoit fell 3-2 in the team's first meeting of 2015.
Offensively, Massasoit sports six players with 10-or-more points: Andrew Revanales (18g, 13a=49pts), Sidney Cardoso (14g, 7a=35pts), Kessy Alves (13g, 6a=32pts), Elvis Andrade (10g, 8a=28pts), Jose Erazo (6g, 6a=18pts) and Kyle McGibbon (5g, 2a=12pts). The Warriors are averaging 4.6 goals per game for the season.
Cardoso is the reigning NJCAA and NSCAA National Player of the Week, after scoring five goals in pair of victories last week. He joins teammate Kessy Alves to earn both national honors in the same week this season.
