On Saturday, Sept. 24, the NECC Knights defeated New Hampshire Technical Institute NHTI 3-0 at the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

Before the game I asked NECC Soccer head coach Eusebio Marote how difficult is this short period, with opponents outscoring them 14-3 in the past three games combined, excluding opening day?

“Yeah, you know unfortunate the numbers are like that but at the end of the day we take it game by game and there’s nothing you can do about those games. So what we tried to do is start fresh every game and trying to get results,” he said.

Before the game the referee called the captains of both teams like they usually do before the game start for a coin toss to see who is going to get the first kick of the game.

Mission 22 it’s a group of people united in the war against veteran suicide. They were in attendance and for the national anthem before the game.

The game officially started at 12:02 p.m., one of the Knights soccer players hit a head shot to the goaltender of NHTI. Then the trainer had to come and check on the goaltender of New Hampshire Technical Institute, but he was all right.

The Knights had 6 shots on goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.

 The first goal of the game was own goal one of the NHTI player made it  to make it 1-0 Knights.

The second goal of the game by Sem Milambo of Lawrence was waived off, the call on the field was offside and as of result it was no goal and the game still remained 1-0.

The Knights had a few chances in the first period to try to blow this thing open quickly but they just couldn’t take advantage of the situation.

“Yeah, I think it could’ve been more but it is what it is regardless at the end of the day we keep it clean sheet and we won,” said Marote.

In the 38 minutes of the game Rayane Elmhklouk of Methuen  made it 2-0 Knights with an assist of Steve Sime of Haverhill.

The Knights had two corner kick and NHTI had none. The Knights had ten  shots on goal. NHTI also had one. The Knights had three fouls and NHTI one in the first half.

In the second half the Knights had two free kicks on two fouls in less then 10 minutes of action. with 25 minutes left in the second half the Knights had another free kick as one of the NHTI player touched the ball with his hand.

Alex Mutumbo from Concord, N.H.,  kicked a shot that it hit on top of the crossbar as they were looking to score the first goal of the game.

Fadi Serhan of Middletown made it 3-0 on his second goal of the game in the minute 71 with an assist of Sam De Amorim of Methuen.

The Knights  had two corner kicks and NHTI one. The Knights had nine shots on goal and NHTI had four. NHTI had five fouls and NECC had four.

Coach Morate and I talked a little bit about the win the Knights pick up against NHTI after the game?

“I think it’s big for our confidence you know three nil keeping it clean, it’s been huge for our goalie as well and overall just a good win you know. I think we could’ve put couple more in but can’t be too, selfish a win is a win,” he said.

I had a chance to interview NECC Knights goaltender Anhuar Ramos Garcia of Nashua. N.H., after the game we talked about how he boasted his confidence when his team strikes first. “My confidence came back high and I knew we could play more comfortable and stuff like that we also keep trying our best,” he said.

We also talked about that this was the first shutout win for the Knights this season “It feels good, I’m very happy it was a team win and everybody came on to play and I’m very happy for the win,” he said.

On Thursday, Sept. 22, Central Maine Community College defeated the NECC Knights three sets to none at the Sports and Fitness Center on the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

The Knights lost the first set 25-13, the second set they lost 25-18 and the third set 25-22.

The game officially started at 6:02 p.m. with Mustangs getting the first point of the game.

The Knights started the game in a slow starts. They were down 10-2 when Coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill decided to call a time out.

Central Maine was up 16 to 4, absolutely the Mustangs had the night number in the first set. The Knights were trying to rally at the end of the first set. The Knights went on a 5-1 run.

Central Maine won the first set 25 to 15 against the Knights.

Pelosi said “I think it was much of the same thing. Sloppy and positioning and our opponent is smart and skilled enough to take advantage of that. I will also add the second thought that something we have been improving… and you know I think that we were working on our mental process and we’re making progress and I think the players are appreciating the fact that they individually bounce back from situations … I think they are starting to notice the partner.”

On the second set the Knights were on a run. The Knights began the second set on a 10-3 run. The Knights had a good lead and I thought the way they were performing in the beginning of the second set with that lead that they had, that they would regroup and would win the second set. Eventually that wasn’t the case. The  Knights could not hold up that lead as the Mustangs came back to take the lead and eventually steal a set from the Knights, winning the second set 25-18.

I asked coach Pelosi what this team has to do to not give up the lead when they have a comfortable lead during the set?

“I think that it’s not going to matter unless if we do the fundamentals nothing is going to matter because our competition is you know the level of competition in the conferences this year it’s just too high so we can hustle all that we want, the captains can give great speeches but at the end of the day  were not in positioning, it’s not going to matter very much…” said Coach Pelosi.

The third set began with a a back and forth battle between the Knights and Mustangs. The Knights need to win that set in order to force a fourth set. The Knights had some issues in the line up serving they had the wrong server twice in that set. The Knights made it close, they made it interesting but it wasn’t enough as the Mustangs won the third set 25-22 and won the game three set to none.

After the game Coach Pelosi had a team meeting, the message that he told them was “… I felt like as a team we haven’t been playing clean volleyball in terms of positioning and in terms of some of the fundamental stuff. Players being in the right proper position, defensively, transitioning for their hitting spots and players communicating with one and another so this kind some fundamental things that my hope this point in the season we would’ve had it cleaned up… I guess the mindset getting the players in the mindset of things that they have to take this thing more seriously and they have to play like a team…” he said to me the next day when we had a phone interview.

On Tuesday Sept. 20, Community College of Rhode Island CCRI Knights defeated NECC Knights three sets to one at the Sports and Fitness Center in the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

First set 25-16 NECC Knights lost, second set 25-13 NECC Knights lost, third set NECC Knights won 34-32 and the fourth set NECC Knights lost 25-23.

It was the home opener for the women’s volleyball team and it was also a rematch of the 2021 Region 21 finals.

They had a big crowd watching that game thanks to the men’s soccer team as soon as they finished their game against Roxbury. They went to the Sports and Fitness Center about 45 to 50 minutes from the start of the women’s volleyball game to cheer on for the NECC Knights.

NECC Women’s Volleyball head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill said after the game “I thought that was great. I really thought that I should probably thank them. I really appreciated them coming, it did make a difference. I think it was enjoyable for the players to have a crowd and I think they did a great job cheering, constructively it helped bring some energy in the court and I think obviously during the match we got some ups and downs and I think they help us getting some up swings with the momentum.

The game officially started at 6:47 p.m.

The Knights of NECC started the game on an 8-3 run before CCRI Knights decided to call a time out.

After the time out CCRI Knights went on a 7-0 run.

NECC head coach Pelosi called two timeouts in the first set to try to motivate his players and try to win that first set. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as the Knights lost the first set 25-16.

In the second set CCRI Knights started on a 4-0 run before the Knights of NECC finally cashed in and scored a point on the second set to make it 4 to 1. Then the Knights of NECC was losing 10 to 5 when coach Pelosi decided to use his first timeout of the second set.

The Knights lost the second set two games to none.

On the third set it was a classic battle between CCRI Knights and the Knights of NECC.

The NECC Knights were s looking to avoid getting shutout for the third time in five games.

The NECC Knights played more aggressively in the third set and arguably the best set that they ever had so far in this 2022 campaign.

The Knights were up 10 to 7, 15 to 14 and the game was tied at 22.

When the game is tied at 24, which indeed happened in the third set it was 24-24 one point in the game instead of 25, to win the set you must win by two points..

It was a back and forth battle. CCRI scored. NECC scored. It was like that set was never going to end. Instead finally the NECC Knights forced a set four and won the third set 34-32.

Coach Pelosi and I talked about how intense the third set was. “Yeah that was a terrific one I tell them a lot these teams are not easy teams, especially CCRI, the coach is great …. he knows his stuff and we have

to work, we are not getting any freebies this year we got to work for every single game and I think they got in a good competitive mindset… players are not going to play at their best if they don’t really believe they can win…” he said.

Coach Pelosi also believed winning the third set put pressure on CCRI for the forth set.

The Knights of NECC were up 13 to 9 in the fourth set and were taking advantage of the mistakes of CCRI. The Knights were up 21 to 17, they just needed four more points to force set five and possibly one of the biggest upset in the season. Instead CCRI came back. It was 23-23 at one point in the game and CCRI defeated NECC 25-23 in set four and won the game three set to one.

On Tuesday Sept. 20, Roxbury Community College defeated NECC Knights 3 to 1 in the Men’s Soccer home opener at the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

Before the game I had a chance to interview NECC Soccer head coach Eusebio Marote and he gave me an injury update on Andrew Valdes of Lawrence who got injured in the previous match against Massasoit “Unfortunately we believe  that he might be out for the rest of the season…” he said.

The Knights won the coin toss against Roxbury which means the Knights would have the ball first.

The game officially started at 3:36 pm.

In the first half the Knights were playing good defense preventing Roxbury from scoring early in the game.

The Knights almost scored on a corner kick. Johnathan Diaz of Methuen kicked the ball, the ball in mid air Matheus Moreira of Dracut  headed  as the ball went over the net and the Knights did not scored.

In the 33 minutes of the game made it 1-0 Roxbury a goal of Isandro Lopes and an assist from Kervens Charles.

The Knights missed a few opportunities during the game where they could’ve tied the game and possibly taken the lead.

One minute later one of the Roxbury players left the game due to an injury.

Roxbury made it 2-0 in the 43rd minutes of the game. It was again Lopez with an assist this time by Ronilson Semedo.

In the first half the Knights had two corner kicks, Roxbury had three. The Knights had four shots on goal and Roxbury had one. The Knights had five fouls and Roxbury had four.

In the second half the Knights goaltender was complaining a little bit of a hip injury, but he managed to stay in the game.

In the 70 minutes of the game Sam De Amorim of Methuen made it 2 to 1. That goal was a relief for the Knights because with that goal it ended the Knights 290 minutes stretch without scoring a goal.

I had a chance to talk to De Amorim after the game. “It definitely good a lot of work to be [ done] and back into it tomorrow on practice and I feel great about scoring even though I’m coming off an injury and almost giving my team a tie here. It’s a tough loss, they are really good team and we (will be) back at it the next game for sure try to win the next game,” he said.

De Amorim almost scored his second goal of the game, which would have tied the game at 2, but he missed the game tying shot by inches as the ball curved.

Lopes scored a hat trick in the 81st minute as he was responsible for all three goals for Roxbury thanks to an assist of Jorgenson Delice.

In the second half the Knights had one corner kicks while Roxbury had two. The Knights and Roxbury both  had four shots on goal. The Knights had three fouls and Roxbury  had two fouls  meanwhile in the second half. The Knight’s had one yellow card and Roxbury had two.

There were fouls during the game and yellow card that the referee missed during the game.

“Yeah it’s a little frustrating, obviously when he is not making the right call in our opinion but at the end of the day everybody makes mistake… no matter what level it is. Even at the professional level obviously they have video review now in professional so it helps the ref and helps the teams but here obviously we don’t have video reviews so it’s kinda the ref to call…” Coach Marote said.

On Thursday Sept. 15, the NECC Knights Women’s Volleyball was defeated three sets to none against Southern Maine Community College Seawolves in South Portland, Maine.

First set 25-11, second set 25-17 and the third set 25-10.

The game was originally scheduled for 6:30 but the league changed the start time to 7 pm.

The Knights almost lost the game due to forfeit as they came just 11 minutes before the clock hits 7 pm.

“Yeah, so we couldn’t leave any earlier because we wouldn’t have enough girls so we would’ve have to forfeit either way so that’s why we came a little late,” said assistant head coach active manager  Marissa Reardon.

When the Knights got there, they had 40 minutes to warm up and stretch and get ready for the game.

NECC Head Coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill did not travel with the team to South Portland, instead it was assistant head coach Reardon in charge.

I asked her after the game why Pelosi did not travel with the team.

“He had a prior commitment that he couldn’t miss today, so he ask me to coach today and I had the opportunity to coach today,” she said.

The game officially started at 7:36 pm.

The Knights were down early against the Seawolves. The Knights was losing 13-4 when assistant head coach and active manager Reardon decided to call a time out.

The Knights was taken advantage of the opportunity as  the Seawolves was hitting the ball outside of the court which means the Knights get a point but it wasn’t enough as Seawolves won the first set 25 to 11.

I had a chance to interview Ashley Martinez of Lawrence after the game and we talked about the first set that wasn’t played aggressively aggressive like the second set.

“At first it was a little bit new we have new plays. I started playing today but then in the second set we started to communicate better process in the game” she said.

The second set the Knights played a little bet better and more aggressive. They began the set strong on a 5-0 run but then when the Knights were  winning 9-7 the Seawolves then took control of the second set. The he Knights gave up the lead and the Seawolves went on top and the Knights lost the second  set 25-7.

“Yes, I was very proud we were working on our serving and our serves set? and I definitely think the second set proved that we were working on it,” said Reardon.

Seawolves in the third set began the set on a 10-1 run. The Knights didn’t have anything to show for on the last set as they lost 25-10.

“I do believe at some point we did collapse, but we do, every team has strength and weaknesses and I think we show that in few of the sets but I believe the second set was one of our best set ever,” said assistant coach active manager Reardon.

On Tuesday Sept. 13 Massasoit Community College defeated the NECC Knights 5-0 in Warrior field in Brockton, Massachusetts.

The game started at 4:03 pm. Massasoit had a quick start in this game. Two minutes into the game Romell Brown of Eastham scored the first goal thanks to an assist of Kevin Barbosa of Brockton.

Three minutes into the game the Knights had a free kick as the call was offside. The 16 fans that were in attendance were getting restless despite the Warriors of Massasoit Community College leading 1-0 the Warriors ere committing a lot of turnover and sloppy plays. The Knights didn’t cash in and take advantage of those opportunities.

“Yeah you know their a good team, they are coached by a good guy. Unfortunately a couple situations and stuff were we could’ve been better and then you know if we don’t capitalize on that then s**t is going to happen,” said NECC Soccer Head Coach Esuebio Marote after the game.

On the 13th minutes of the game Warrior soccer player Sergio Tavares DaSilva of Brockton was issued a yellow card.

On the 20th minutes Knights goalie Anhuar Ramos Garcia of Nashua, New Hampshire made a nice save from preventing the Warriors from scoring.

On the 31st minutes Warrior soccer player Damian Anderson of New Bedford was issued a yellow card.

On the 34th minutes NECC Knights soccer player Gabe Moreira of Dracut was issued a yellow card.

On the 39 minutes of the game Hans Takang of Cameroon made it 2-0 Warriors in an assist of Marc Desire of Brockton.

I ask NECC soccer player Faddie Serhan of Middletown how the defense can get better as they missed few opportunities on the first half ?

“Yeah, we just need to finish, have shots, you know opportunity it is the most important you know take shots as most as possible one can land…” he said.

The Knights were down 2-0 in the first 45 minutes of the game.

In the second half Warriors quickly started off what they didn’t finish in the 49 minutes Angelot Jerome of Randolph made it 3-0 an assist of Gracian Moreria of Brockton.

In the 55 minutes of the game Leonard Rodriguez Ortiz of Methuen was given a yellow card.

Massasoit scored another goal but it was invalid as the run got taken away from the board because the call on the field was offside and the goal did not count and it remained 3-0 instead of 4-0.

On the 59 minutes came the forth goal of the game. It was Moreira with an assist from Marc Desire of Brockton.

At 65 minutes came the last goal of the game it was Rushawn Plummer of Hyannis an assist of Nick McMahon of Swansea.

I asked coach Marote if he believes the team needs to communicate better as they only scored one goal in the last 222 minutes?

The last time the Knights scored a goal we have to go back to opening day when Sam De Amorim of Methuen scored the third goal for the Knights in the 48th minute of the game.

“I definitely I think it’s a little bit the young guys (are) a little bit too inexperienced. You know still early in the season and the most important thing is in my opinion at the moment there hasn’t been a conference game yet. I know our first conference game is this Saturday, we’re hoping to train hard this week and try to get result on Saturday,” he said.

I told the same question to NECC soccer player  Serhan “ I would say better communication, working as a unit that’s what we are lacking the most defense first as always and we still working on that and I hope by the next game which is the conference game we get that win will be 1-0 in the conference game which that’s matter,” he said.

In the 88 minutes of the game Andrew Valdez was taken out of the game as a result of a shoulder injury while he was playing in the field.

“I think he dislocated his shoulder when back he is going to see the doctor. Unfortunately it doesn’t look good I believe we going to miss him for a while,” said Coach Marote.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7 the NECC Knights Men’s Soccer team opened the 2022 campaign by defeating Southern Maine Community College 3 to 1 at Portland, Maine.

Both teams were warming up before the game doing their normal pre-game routine. The referee called the captain of both teams for a toss up to see who would get the ball first.

It was Southern Maine getting the ball first by winning the coin toss from Northern Essex.

The referee blew the whistle at 4:03 p.m. for the start of the game.

The Knights 10 minutes in into the game did a quick change — it was Sem Millambo of Lawrence who came in for Zack Mahaba of Boxford.

The Knights’ first foul came 15 minutes into the game by Andrew Valdez of Lawrence.

On the 26 minutes the Knights were awarded a penalty kick. It was Jonathan Diaz of Methuen who took the shot and scored the first point of the game to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

On the 31 minutes a foul was called on Jake Igoe of Haverhill. Southern Maine was awarded a free kick.

Six minutes between his first goal Diaz did it again, his second goal of the game put the Knights 2-0.

On the 41 minute the referee pulled a yellow card to Gabe Moreira of Dracut.

I had a chance to talk to head coach, Coach Eusebio Marote after the game and asked how important was having a 2-0 lead at the half.

 “It’s huge we’re going into the second half, you know being in the good end of it …gives you more confidence that you finished off the game on top,” he said.

The Knights in the first half had nine shots on goal while Southern Maine had seven. The Knights also had three corner kicks while Southern Maine had none. Both teams committed three fouls while Knights goalkeeper had four saves in the first half and Southern Maine three. In the first half the Knights just had one yellow card while Southern Maine none.

On the 48 minutes of the game Sam De Amorim of Methuen cored the third goal of the game. All three goals for the Knights were unassisted, two from Diaz and one from De Amorim.

On the 52 minutes Matheus Moreira of Dracut  was issued with another yellow card which means he had two yellow card which equals a red card. The Knights played the final 38 minutes with one man short.

On the 68 minutes the Knights goalie Anhuar Ramos Garcia of Nashua, New Hampshire, was issued a yellow card.

Coach Morate was issued a yellow card for arguing the call in the field during the 71 minutes of the game.

“I personally spoke one time about a foul on one of my players that I thought it was dangerous play, I think he didn’t see it, you know my players could get really seriously injured. I’m here for my players I had to talk about it because it got on scene overlooked, I think we deserve a penalty in that situation so it was a little miscommunication I guess with me and the ref. At the end of the day it is what it is I believe it was my first one as a coach so it’s going to happen one day,” he said.

Southern Maine first yellow card of the game came in the 74 minutes. It was David Wilson of Merrimac.

Emerson Murillo of Haverhill had a yellow card in the 75 minutes.

On the 82 minutes Laszlo Dorogi of West Boylston scored the first goal for Southern Maine, an assist of Eriksen Shea of Freeport, Maine.

Southern Maine outscored the Knights in the second half on shots on goal 14 to 3 .

“We were a man down like 38 minutes left in the game,so being with a man down obviously a lot more tired to go forward, you got to defend a little harder. Teams are putting a little bit more pressure on you so at that point you focusing on not allowing a goal keeping the lead three goal up so it’s a good cushion trying to defend out we finished it off,” Coach Marote said.

The Knights had four saves in the second half while Southern Maine one. Both teams had two corner kicks while the Knights had seven fouls and Southern Maine two.