CASTINE, Maine - The Husson Eagles men's soccer team traveled an hour south for their regular season finale and picked up a 5-0 victory over the Mariners of Maine Maritime at Ritchie Field on Saturday afternoon.  With the victory, the Eagles have earned the overall number one seed for the upcoming North Atlantic Conference tournament with a 8-0-1 conference record and 12-2-3 overall while the Mariners earned the number four seed in the East Division with a 5-3-1 record in the NAC and 6-8-1 overall.

The Eagles started the game very intense from the opening whistle, getting their first goal in the 8th minute from Arni Hreidarsson. The Iceland native scored for the third straight game when Pedro Molina delivered an over the top for Hreidarsson.  

Husson continued to insist with their direct attacks and in the 27th minute found the second goal through Jordi Cabau, who got his 16th goal of the season en route to winning the NAC Golden Boot. Cabau concluded a great play by Pablo Maroto on the left side.

The Eagles finished the first half in the best way, thanks to Mosi Masimango finding Alejandro Mora between the lines with a neat pass, Mora drove decisively and placed a great shot from outside the box to make it 3-0.

Before the end of the first half, in the 40th minute, MMA's JD Vandemergel was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the match.

After halftime, both teams made several changes. This did not change the dynamic of the game, as the Eagles continued to dominate the ball and attack while the Mariners looked for their chance on the counter-attack.

Husson's new attacking players came out with a lot of desire and with the same intensity as those who played in the first half. In the 69th minute, Joao Passoni and Fred Longo linked a great give and go on the right side, which helped Longo to take another touch and enter the box, where he was knocked down by an MMA player and earned a penalty. Passoni converted the penalty to make the score 4-0.

The last goal of the game was scored by Pedro Molina in the 73rd minute. Molina headed home a great corner kick by Jahmal Williams.

After the game Head Coach Gavin Penny was pleased with the result but knows work is ahead. "What a great end to the regular season for us. We wanted to end on a high note and we really showed our ambition today. To play away on another teams senior day is never easy but I thought we gave an excellent account of ourselves and put on a great performance. We wanted to give ourselves a mental edge going into the rematch in the NAC quarterfinals and I'm hoping that our performance today will give us an extra lift next weekend. We know that MMA are a hard team to beat so we expect them to come back stronger. However, I couldn't be happier today and I'm looking forward to have the divisional tournament at home next weekend."

The playoffs are among us. The Eagles have earned the right to host the NAC quarterfinals and semifinals as the top four teams from the East Division will play for the divisional title. On Saturday, October 30th, the Eagles and Mariners will rematch at Boucher Field in the 1v4 matchup with a time to be determined on Monday, October 25th.