The collegiate soccer season is starting to approach the business end, and several players that attended high schools in Warwick are in the thick of the action as their teams dream of tournament glory.

The trio of Talia D’Ambruoso, Nicole Starkey-Cox and Erica Hammond—all Pilgrim alumnae—are setting their sights on guiding UMass-Dartmouth to a Little East title, but it will be a tough road for the fourth-seeded Corsairs.

Despite D’Ambruoso scoring her sixth goal of the season to tie the game on the stroke of halftime, UMass-Dartmouth fell to Eastern Connecticut 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in its regular-season finale.

As a result, the Warriors clinched the top seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, and could potentially face off against the Corsairs in the semifinals on Thursday.

However, the UMass-Dartmouth 11 has to first negotiate a quarterfinal clash versus fifth-seeded Keene State on Tuesday.

The teams’ previous encounter on Oct. 17 was an overtime epic that saw the Corsairs sail past the Owls 4-3, buoyed by a Starkey-Cox hat trick.

Elsewhere, Hendricken alum Torrey Stricklin is nearing the end of his career at Gordon, and he is hoping that it does not come to an end on Tuesday, as the Fighting Scots take on Western New England in the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals.

He almost had to hang up his cleats on Halloween, as Gordon was 30 seconds away from elimination in its CCC quarterfinal encounter with Roger Williams before Joshua Cochran leveled the score at one apiece, setting the table for Josh Beveridge to fire home the winner 13 minutes into overtime.

A defender by trade, Stricklin is rarely involved in the Fighting Scots’ attack, having only taken five shots all season while picking up a pair of yellow cards during the 15 matches he has appeared in.

Finally, Toll Gate graduate Grace McGrath has been part of the record-breaking 2015 campaign that is being put together by Wentworth, albeit in a supporting role for the Leopards.

The freshman midfielder has come off the bench in 15 games this season for a team that is currently on an 11-match winning streak that was extended on Saturday with a 4-0 shutout of Curry in the CCC quarterfinals.

The winning run being enjoyed by the Wentworth 11 has rewritten the program’s record book, as the win over the Colonels was the Leopards’ 16th of the campaign, besting the previous high of 15 set by the 2002 team.

Next up for McGrath and her teammates is a semifinal date on Wednesday night against Gordon, who fell to Wentworth 3-0 when the two teams met on Sept. 26.

Potter runs in conference championship

Former Hendricken standout Michael Potter put together a solid performance in his first appearance at the Colonial Athletic Association cross-country championship this past Saturday, finishing in the middle of the pack in more ways than one.

The former Hawk, now a freshman at Northeastern, covered the eight-kilometer course in 26 minutes, 7.6 seconds, placing him in 25th overall out of the 47-runner field and fifth among the eight competitors fielded by the Huskies on the day.

Potter’s efforts helped Northeastern attain a second-place finish in the team event for the third season in a row, behind a William & Mary squad that claimed its 16th straight conference championship.