MEN'S SOCCER

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Rob Harlow scored a pair of goals, and Drew Dilley added a goal and an assist to lead the Norwich men's soccer team to its fourth consecutive shutout victory, 4-0, over Emerson on Wednesday afternoon at Howard Field.

The Cadets (14-2-1, 9-0-1 GNAC), who capped an undefeated conference slate and won the GNAC regular season championship, have locked up the No. 1 seed in the league tournament and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. NU will host a quarterfinal game against an undetermined opponent at Howard Field on Sunday, Oct. 28, at 1:30 p.m.

Emerson (10-8-0, 3-8-0 GNAC) controlled play for the first several minutes, but were unable to capitalize on its chances. The Lions' inability to put shots on goal hurt them throughout the game as only three of their 17 shot attempts were on target.

Harlow opened the scoring for Norwich in the fourth minute when he corralled a pass from Chris Rivet and drilled the ball from the left side of the field into the far right-hand corner of the net to put the Cadets on top, 1-0.

Ryan Boyton, who has been named GNAC "Rookie of the Week" each of the past two weeks, continued his hot play, scoring NU's second goal off an assist from Dilley in the 36th minute.  

The second half featured an interesting play when NU goaltender Jake Pagragan was credited with an assist on Harlow's second goal, which came in the 86th minute. Pagragan sent the ball sailing down the field on a tremendous kick and Harlow collected it and snuck it past Emerson goalie Jonas Imbert to make it 3-0 Cadets.

Dilley closed out the scoring in the 88th minute when he finished off a nice play set up by Jake Yaris and Rivet.

Pagragan made three saves, including a big stop on a point-blank shot attempt late in the game to preserve his third straight shutout, and sixth blanking of the season. As a team, Norwich has notched 10 shutout victories this year.

Imbert made several impressive stops throughout the match to keep Emerson close. He finished with 11 saves in the contest. Will Sagar led the Lions' offense with seven shots, including two of the team's three shots on goal.

NU outshot Emerson, 24-17, and the Cadets held a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.