NEW HAVEN, Conn. - It was a special senior day as the Albertus Magnus College men's soccer team clinched a spot in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship with a 3-1 win over the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in the team's season finale on Wednesday evening at Celentano Field.

The win clinched the eighth seed for the upcoming conference tournament and will once again face USJ, the GNAC regular season champion, on Saturday at 1 p.m. on the road. Wednesday's win also spoiled an unbeaten GNAC season for the Blue Jays.

Lorenzo Lauria (New Haven, Conn.), Aiden Coelho (Naugatuck, Conn.) and Nickolas Korponay (Hamden, Conn.) all scored for the Falcons on the evening.

David Lucero (East Haven, Conn.) earned the win in goal, stopping five of the six shots he faced.

Seniors Lucero, Lauria, Coelho, Bennett Walsh (Springfield, Mass.) and Alexander Teixeira (Naugatuck, Conn.) were all honored prior to the game.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus 3 | USJ 1

RECORDS: Albertus (8-7-3, 5-5-2 GNAC) | USJ (10-4-2, 9-1-2 GNAC)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons got on the board in the seventh minute as Matheus Pimenta gathered the ball in the box and centered a pass to Lauria who fired home his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
• In the 19th minute, Coelho beat a defender to the ball and sprinted into the box, splitting two more defenders and taking a shot from the penalty kick area past USJ goalkeeper, Andres Diosa for his ninth goal of the season to make it a 2-0 game.
• Albertus extended its lead to 3-0 after Walsh stole a ball from USJ at midfield, sprinted downfield with the ball and fed a throughball to Korponay who was able to beat Diosa to the ball and take a shot past him to make it 3-0.
• Lucero had four saves in the first half to keep USJ off the board.
• The Blue Jays added its lone goal in the 88th minute on a shot by Marshall Melita.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Albertus

David Lucero (W, 8-6-3) 6 Shots on Goal | 5 Saves | 1 Goal Allowed

USJ

Andres Diosa (L, 1-2-0) 4 Shots on Goal | 1 Save | 3 Goals Allowed

BY THE NUMBERS

SHOTS: USJ 12 | Albertus 7

SAVES: Albertus 5 | USJ 1

CORNER KICKS: Albertus 5 | USJ 4

FOULS: Albertus 8 | USJ 8

NOTEWORTHY

Both Coelho (26 points) and Lauria (23) finished the regular season in the top five in points in the GNAC.

This will be the fourth time the two teams will meet in the GNAC Championships.