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.