ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Freshman Jose Matute scored three goals to lead the NCC men's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Lehigh Carbon Community College on Monday afternoon.

Matute, who now has 7 goals on the season, opened the scoring off an assist from Tyler Garr on a through ball over the Cougar defense, leaving Matute one on one with the LCCC goalkeeper to give NCC a 1-0 lead.

Garr then hit Matute again in the first half, with Matute beating the LCCC keeper to the far post to give the Spartans a 2-0 halftime advantage.

Matute finished off the hat trick with an assist from King Joel in the second half, who won the ball in the offensive third of the field and found his streaking teammate in front of the net.

"The guys really played well today," commented Head Coach Joe Heitczman, "I wasn't sure how we would respond coming off the tough loss to Middlesex on Saturday, but it was a great all around effort.  I thought the defense really stepped up and Ronnie Mendizabal made an unbelievable save late in the game to preserve the shutout."

The win moves NCC to 1-2-2 overall and 1-0-2 in Region XIX / EPAC play.

LCCC falls to 0-3-0 overall and 0-1-0 in Region XIX / EPAC.

Northampton returns to action on Thursday when they host Bucks County Community College at 3:30pm.