BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's soccer team clinched the EPAC championship on Thursday afternooon, downing Bucks County Community College 3-2 , in a thrilling match at Spartan Field. 

In a battle of the top two teams in the EPAC, Armando Gonzalez (Bath, PA/Nazareth) got Northampton on the board 9 minutes into the game off an assist from Cesar Hernandez (East Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg).  Hernandez followed up 5 minutes later with his own goal, assisted by Sam Gaye (Bath, PA/Northampton ), giving the Spartans a 2-0 halftime advantage. 

The Centurions clawed back in the second half, as Howard Haas knocked in a rebound with 25 minutes to play and Tyler Andre tied the contest 6 minutes later.  The teams battled back and forth before Gonzalez got loose and was taken down in the box, resulting in a penalty kick for Northampton.  Joey Jacona (East Stroudsburg, PA/East Stroudsburg South ) calmly put the ball in the back of the net, in what proved to be the game winner with 15 minutes remaining in the game.  Kenan Meral (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty ) made 9 saves, including a couple huge saves down the stretch, culminating with a deflection on a direct kick on the game's final play. 

"Just a terrfic effort," commented Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "once again we had guys (Junior Moncayo (Easton, PA/Easton ), Majed Salama (Allentown, PA/Catasauqua )) step up to fill in for our missing starters and they each did a tremendous job.  Sam Gaye (Bath, PA/Northampton ) did a great job moving back to defense, along with Matt McCoy (Upper Mt. Bethel /Bangor ) and David Chirco (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg ) ... they really were unsung heros today."

The win moves Northampton to 11-0-0 in EPAC play, while second place Bucks falls to 8-2-0. The Spartans only have one conference game remaining on October 18th vs. Harrisburg, thus guaranteeing them the conference title. 

The Spartans (11-2-0 overall) host Middlesex at 2:30pm on Saturday in a women's/men's doubleheader.