FLUSHING, N.Y. – For the second time in three seasons, the Queens College men's soccer team is set to compete for the East Coast Conference Championship. The top-seeded Knights will welcome the No. 2 seed Roberts Wesleyan University Redhawks to Knights Field on Saturday evening with the conference title on the line.
 
Queens closed out the regular season with a 12-3-3 record and an unbeaten 6-0-2 mark in ECC play to secure the No. 1 seed. On November 8, the Knights defeated No. 5 seed District of Columbia, 4–1, to advance to Championship Saturday. The win improved Queens to 13–3–3 overall, matching the program record for single-season victories (13) set in 2022.

Historic Season for the Knights

Queens is in the midst of another milestone year, posting its fourth straight winning season and the seventh double-digit win campaign in program history, five of which have come under head coach Frank Vertullo.
 
The Knights also set a new program record with nine All-ECC selections, including a league-leading six First Team honorees. Queens swept four of the conference's five major awards:

• Redshirt-junior defender Tommy Wagner (East Northport, N.Y.) - Defensive Player of the Year
• Redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Thanasis Shehadeh (Nicosia, Cyprus) - Goalkeeper of the Year
• Rookie forward Bradyn Brown (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) - Rookie of the Year (unanimous)
• Frank Vertullo - Coach of the Year

Scouting the Knights

Offensively, Queens has been one of the most dynamic teams in the ECC, scoring 48 goals (2.53 per game) on 305 shots, including 165 shots on goal.
 
Thirteen Knights have registered points this season, led by rookie Brown, who tops the team with 13 goals and four assists for 30 points. Senior forward Harry Cooke (Market Drayton, England) has added nine goals and two assists for 20 points, junior forward Miguel Soto Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) has seven goals and a team-high 13 assists for 27 points, and junior midfielder Andrew Johnson (Oakdale, N.Y.) has contributed six goals and one assist for 13 points.
 
Brown, Soto Gonzalez, and Johnson earned All-ECC First Team honors, while Cooke was named to the Second Team.
 
Defensively, the Knights have been equally impressive. Behind Shehadeh and Wagner along with senior midfielder Kevin Johnson (Oakdale, N.Y.), , all earned First-Team honors, while graduate defender Cillian Heaney (Westport, Ireland),  was named to the Second Team and rookie defender Carlos Villa (Medellin, Colombia), earned Third Team recognition. Queens has posted five clean sheets, allowing just 17 goals for a 0.89 goals-against average, while the backline has limited opponents to 172 total shots and 84 shots on goal across 19 matches.

Scouting No. 2 Seed Roberts Wesleyan University Redhawks

Roberts Wesleyan comes to Flushing with an overall record of 10-2-6 and a 4-1-3 mark in ECC play, earning the No. 2 seed.
 
Five Redhawks earned All-ECC honors, led by junior forward Archie Murphy, a Second Team selection, who has tallied a team-high 13 goals and four assists for 30 points. Junior defender Takumi Horan, an All-ECC First Team honoree, has contributed one goal and one assist while anchoring a backline that recorded six shutouts. In goal, senior Eric Jewson earned Second Team honors, making 104 saves while allowing 22 goals for a 1.21 goals-against average, including six shutouts.
 
Murphy scored a golden goal in the 109th minute to lead the Redhawks to their first-ever Championship match, with Jewson making nine saves in the 1-0 victory over No. 3 seed St. Thomas Aquinas College
 
In the regular-season meeting on November 1, Queens earned a 4-1 home win, with Johnson, Cooke, Soto Gonzalez, and Brown each scoring and Shehadeh recording four saves.

Postseason History

This matchup marks the first postseason meeting in program history between Queens and Roberts Wesleyan.

What's on the Line:

A win on Saturday would give Queens its second conference crown in program history and secure the automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament for the third time in program history.

Follow Live

Stats: https://queensknights.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
Watch: FLOCollege

For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's soccer (qcmsoccer).