MCC Men Breeze Through Weekend Games; 14-2 With Playoffs in Sight

MANCHESTER, CT – Jemmy Cange (Norwich) scored his 20th goal of the season in a 5-1 victory over Dean College Sunday afternoon in Manchester. Cange also assisted on a pair of goals and now leads the team with 50 points – 20 goals and 10 assists.

Defender Dennis Cartier (Middletown) scored on a 40-yard bomb from the left side, giving MCC a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the game and the Cougars never looked back. Joe Danso (West Haven) scored the first of his two goals to put MCC up 2-0 and Cange gave the Cougars a 3-0 halftime lead.

“It was difficult for the first 30 minutes, but once we scored that first goal, our midfield moved the ball very well and our passes were just too quick for them,” MCC head coach Jim Insinga said.

MCC (14-2) has now won nine straight but saw its shutout streak end at six games (631 minutes) when Cedric Cavaco scored in the 73rd minute. The Cougars had not been scored on during the month of October – the last goal they gave up was in the 87th minute of an 8-3 win over MassBay on September 30th.

Cavaco’s goal cut MCC’s lead down to 3-1 but the two goal margin lasted just one minute before Daniel Boateng’s (East Hartford) fourth goal of the year gave MCC a 4-1 lead. Danso’s second of the day and seventh of the year closed out the scoring and gave MCC a solid 5-1 victory.

Cartier, who played forward at Xavier High School, has made a successful transition to defense and has become a leader in the backfield for the Cougars. “Dennis Cartier is a freshman playing like a sophomore,” Insinga said. “He’s very, very fast and tough. He wins 99% of the balls he goes after and is making fewer and fewer mistakes. He’s becoming a really good player.”

MCC needed two overtimes to beat Dean in Franklin, MA on October 4th, but after crushing Bristol CC, the #4 ranked team in the nation on Saturday, then having its way Division I Dean on Sunday, the Cougars have transformed from a very good team to a dominant force in the nation among Division III teams.

“This is all about confidence now.” Insinga said. “We’ve beaten a team that was #1 in New England, that’s ranked #4 in the country, and we beat them 7-0. That makes a statement. Then we go and beat every Division I team in New England, that includes Dean twice, CCRI twice and Massasoit, who is leading the division once. That has to be a confidence builder.”

MCC will host the Region XXI, Division III tournament on October 25-26 at the McCormick Complex on the school’s campus. Pairings and game times to be announced.

Dean (7-4) 0 1 1
MCC (14-2) 3 2 5
Goals: D – Cedric Cavaco. M – Joe Danso (2), Jemmy Cange, Dennis Cartier, Daniel Boateng. Saves; D – Nicolas Clark 3, Julian Crowder 8. M – Jeff Gregor 2, Hami Kara 2.