WENHAM, Mass. — The University of New England women’s cross country team brought home its third consecutive Commonwealth Coast Conference championship Saturday afternoon, placing four runners in the top five to breeze by the competition at Gordon College.

Thanks to the depth they have displayed all season long, coupled with a winning performance by CCC Runner of the Year Brittney Sorbello, the Nor’easters totaled 24 points to easily top Roger Williams University, which placed second with a score of 58. Salve Regina University (63), Endicott College (119) and Gordon College (135) rounded out the top five.

Sorbello finished just inches ahead of Roger Williams’ Hannah Zydanowicz to take the victory. Both competitors clocked times of 23:55 over the six-kilometer course. Zydanowicz, a participant at last season’s NCAA Division III Championship, was the individual winner of the CCC Championship a year ago.

The cold and rainy conditions failed to deter the rest of the Nor’easters’ squad as well, as UNE runners grabbed the third, fourth and fifth spots. Tiana Thomas (third ”“ 23:57), Lexie Basiliere (fourth ”“ 23:58) and Angel Waters (fifth ”“ 24:04) each earned all-conference honors. Waters ”“ a Limerick native ”“ was also named CCC Rookie of the Year.

Taxia Arabatzis rounded out the Nor’easters’ scoring runners, offering a clutch 11th-place performance with a time of 25:03. Senior co-captain Annalise Donahue also was among the top 20 runners, finishing 13th as she clocked 25:15.

UNE head coach Ron Ouellette was selected CCC Coach of the Year by his peers for the fourth-consecutive season. Ouellette’s squad will be back in action next week at the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Championship to be held at Westfield State University.

UNE men finish 3rd

WENHAM, Mass. — The University of New England men’s cross country team placed third out of nine entries at the 2014 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship held Saturday on the campus of Gordon College.

Roger Williams University defended its title by posting an aggregate score of 26 to cruise to victory. Wentworth Institute of Technology was the other team to top the Nor’easters’ total of 72. The Leopards had a score of 55 to finish as runners-up.

C.J. Vallie finished 10 seconds behind winner Tim McGowan of Roger Williams to finish in fifth place overall, earning him all-conference honors for the third straight season. Vallie completed the eight-kilometer course in a time of 27:35.

Peter LePage was the second UNE runner to finish. LePage, who was selected CCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, placed 13th with a time of 28:13.

Rounding out UNE’s scoring competitors were Jon Zalman (15th ”“ 28:28), Shane Murphy (16th ”“ 28:34) and Paul Mangiafico (25th ”“ 28:55).

UNE men’s soccer falls to Nichols

DUDLEY, Mass. — Top-seeded Nichols College scored in each half to take a 2-0 victory over eighth-seeded University of New England in a Commonwealth Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship quarterfinal-round game played Saturday afternoon at Vendetti Field.

The Bison (12-2-4) advance to the semifinals for the fifth-consecutive season. UNE finished its season with a record of 9-7-2. The Nor’easters had dealt Nichols its lone loss of the regular season back on Oct. 18.

CCC Rookie of the Year Rielee Mohsin opened the scoring for the Bison in the 31st minute, taking down a long pass from David Melanson with his chest and blasting a shot over UNE goalkeeper Aidan McParland to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage.

Nichols maintained a one-goal lead until the closing stages, when Cooper Milano converted a corner kick from Tiago Prazeres in the 83rd minute.

Jeremy Nash recorded his seventh shutout for the Bison, who held UNE without a shot while taking 19 of their own.

McParland, the CCC Defensive Player of the Year, played another strong game in goal for UNE, recording nine stops in his final collegiate contest.

Nor’easters shut out WNE in field hockey

BIDDEFORD — Nicole Matarozzo notched four goals to pace the University of New England to a 6-0 triumph over Western New England University, as the Commonwealth Coast Conference regular season concluded in the rain Saturday afternoon at the Big Blue Turf.

The decision finished off a second-consecutive regular-season title in the league for the Nor’easters (14-6, 11-1 CCC), who have now won each of the 12 all-time meetings against the Golden Bears (6-13, 3-9 CCC). UNE will host fourth-seeded Salve Regina University in a tournament semifinal on Wednesday at 4 p.m..

Matarozzo’s offensive effort doubled her personal best from three weeks ago, and tied the second-highest single-game goal total in program history. Erin Bibber and Olivia Madore ”“ an Arundel native ”“ accounted for the other UNE scores.

Bibber scored just 43 seconds into the contest, capitalizing on a WNE turnover and weaving around a few defenders and the goalie to roll it into the cage.

Matarozzo got on the board just over four minutes later on a rebound, and then scored on almost the exact same play as Bibber in the 24th minute to make it 3-0.

With less than two minutes left in the first half, Matarozzo registered the hat trick off another rebound, and Madore upped the cushion to 5-0 just 14 seconds before halftime. Alyssa Kowal pulled the ball off the sideline and drilled one towards the goal, setting up the redirection in the circle by Madore.

After a mere 64 seconds of the second period, Matarozzo received a pass from Alex Staples ”“ a native of Alfred ”“ on the left side and knocked in her fourth marker of the game.

Holly Smith and Nicole Schena combined to make three saves for the shutout in the UNE goal.