SUWANEE, Ga. - The 2011 SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament hosted by Birmingham-Southern is set to begin Friday as the fourth-seeded Panthers of BSC will take on Centre at 5pm CST. The winner of that game will meet the top overall seed Trinity on Saturday. Oglethorpe, the second overall seed, will face the winner of the Colorado College and Southwestern game in a battle of the third and sixth seeded teams.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College dropped its
final two matches of the season over the weekend, falling 4-0 to
high powered Trinity on Friday before dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker
to Southwestern in overtime on Sunday. The ‘Roos finish the
year with an overall record of 5-10-2 and a conference mark of 1-8.
On Friday Trinity got out to a fast start with three first half
goals and added one more after the break while Grant Gosselin made
11 saves for the ‘Roos. Against Southwestern, Austin College
got out to a quick start when Sam Temple scored on a feed from Luis
Castillo in the 6th minute, and that remained the score until the
Pirates drew a penalty kick and were able to knot things up just
before halftime. Neither team was able to tally in the second half,
but just 59 seconds into overtime Southwestern scored the game
winner to hand the ‘Roos a season ending 2-1 defeat. Gosselin
was once again strong in the net, making 11 saves in the
loss.
Birmingham-Southern went 2-0 at home this weekend to wrap
up the regular season, defeating Sewanee, 2-1, on Friday, and
Centre, 3-0, on Sunday. The Panthers clinched the fourth seed in
the upcoming SCAC Championship with the win against Centre, and
will face the Colonels again on Friday in the first round. Against
Sewanee, seniors Tony Crocker and Garner Shivers scored BSC’s
goals, and against Centre, Shivers scored the first two and senior
Tyler Evans scored the third. Shivers now ranks second in the
league with 12 goals and fourth with 27 points. This
weekend’s tournament, which BSC is hosting, will be the
first-ever post-season appearance for BSC in the Division III era
after a four-year transitional period with no post-season
play.
Centre played its final two SCAC matches of the regular
season away this week, traveling to Oglethorpe University and
Birmingham-Southern College. On Friday in Atlanta, GA, Centre took
a 1-0 halftime lead against #25 Oglethorpe before surrendering
three second-half goals, eventually falling 3-1 to the Stormy
Petrels. Then on Sunday in Birmingham, AL, Centre gave up two early
goals en route to another loss, the Panthers of Birmingham-Southern
winning 3-0 in the regular season finale. With the two losses,
which were Centre's only blemishes in October, the Colonels fall to
11-5-2 overall and 5-3-1 in the SCAC. The Colonels will travel back
to Birmingham next weekend for the inaugural SCAC Conference
Tournament, where they will once again take on the Panthers of
Birmingham-Southern College in the opening round. The winner of
this match will take on #5 Trinity University in the
semi-finals.
Junior forward Matt Fechter had a hand in all three
Colorado College goals as the Tigers clawed their
way to a 3-2 victory over Hendrix College in their regular-season
finale on Friday night. The win helped CC earn the No. 3 seed at
this week’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
tournament. Fechter recorded his eighth career game-winning goal in
the 65th minute when he drilled a direct kick past the Warriors
goalkeeper from 25 yards out on the right side. Unlike the first
two times the Tigers took a one-goal lead, the defense shut the
door on Hendrix to preserve the victory. Freshman defender Andrew
Worthington's first career goal off a Fechter direct kick gave the
Tigers a 2-1 lead in the 59th minute, but Hendrix tied the game
1:11 later on a penalty kick. Junior forward Daniel Wright put
Colorado College on the board just 14:16 into the game when he
converted on a feed from Fechter. It marked the fifth time this
season CC's points leaders combined for a goal and the fifth time
Wright scored the first marker of a contest. The Tigers improved to
10-1 when scoring first, but just 5-4-1 when tied at the half. CC
now is 5-1-0 when Fechter scores a goal and 8-1-2 when he records a
point. Fechter has produced a goal and an assist in the same game
on six different occasions in less than three full seasons. Junior
Brian Graf tied his season high with eight saves and improved to
7-3-0 in goal. Colorado College faces Southwestern University at
7:30 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the SCAC Tournament in
Birmingham, Ala.
Dallas (6-9-1, 3-6) concluded their season this week,
playing two SCAC games at Crusader Field. On Friday, Dallas
defeated Southwestern University, 1-0, thanks in part to a great
individual effort by sophomore forward Mikhail Castillo, who netted
his third goal of the season, an 86th-minute tally. In the win,
junior goalkeeper James Kerin registered his second shutout of the
season. With a victory over Southwestern in the fold, the Crusaders
now needed to find a way to defeat No. 5 Trinity University, as a
win over the Tigers would secure a berth in the SCAC Men's Soccer
Tournament for the first year conference member. Freshman
midfielder Matt Wise tied the game, 1-1, when he converted on a
penalty-kick in the 56th minute. Roughly eight minutes later,
Trinity produced the game-winner much to the chagrin of the Dallas
faithful on 'Senior Day' for the Crusaders, with a Kyle Porter goal
from Nima Naderi.
Hendrix just missed out qualifying for the SCAC Tournament
with a 3-2 loss to Colorado College at Warrior Field on Friday. The
Warriors finished the season 7-8-3 and 3-5-1 in league play. After
the Tigers went up 1-0 in the 15th minute, senior Ian Evans,
starting at forward for the first time this season, knocked in
rebound of a shot by junior Dylan Reed. CC regained the lead in the
59th minute. The Warriors tied the game again just 2:11 later on a
penalty kick by senior Duncan Keegan. The goal was the
conference-leading 14th of the year for Keegan, who is also
Hendrix' career leader in points (93), goals (36) and assists (21).
The Tigers scored the winning goal in the 65th minute on a free
kick from 25 yards out. Hendrix outshot Colorado 20-12 for the
game. Warrior senior keeper Adam Legg recorded five saves. Hendrix
honored eight seniors before the game - Legg, Evans, Keegan, Taylor
Davenport, DJ Kirn, Collin Sitler, Colin Thompson and Ryan
Menchaca.
Millsaps spoiled the Rhodes Lynx season on Saturday night
at Harper Davis Field as they played to 1-1 draw. The draw keeps
the Lynx out of the postseason contention. The Majors got on the
board early in the first half thanks to a goal from junior Taylor
Harrison, his second of the season. Rhodes responded before the
half ended thanks to a rebound from Charles Lent to knot things up.
Millsaps saw numerous opportunities to pull ahead, but could not
find the go ahead goal in the second half. The teams went into
overtime where neither team could score as the Majors held the
draw.
#25 Oglethorpe finished the regular
season by splitting their final two contests. The Petrels topped
Centre (W, 3-1) on Friday and fell to Sewanee (L, 2-1) on Sunday.
Against the Colonels Oglethorpe was down 1-0 at half before the No.
25 ranked Petrels rallied for three second half goals to clinch a
bye in the SCAC Tournament next week and earn the squad's 12th
straight win. The Colonels jumped in front in the 36th minute when
Cameron Miller took a low cross from Ryan Garvey and finished it
past Petrel keeper Frank Petersen. The score remained in Centre's
favor until Sean King notched the first of two assists via corner
kicks on the afternoon by placing one perfectly in the box for
Nikos Papanikolopoulos to crack home for the equalizer in the
game's 49th minute. The score stayed knotted for the next 20
minutes of tense action until Jakub Madej streaked down the left
flank and played a perfect cross that Aleksander Tanjga finished
deftly for the 2-1 Petrel lead. Oglethorpe inserted the nail in the
coffin in the 80th minute when King struck gold again off another
corner kick, finding Nick Williamson who headed home the clinching
goal. Oglethorpe outshot Centre 22-8 and earned a 12-6 advantage in
corner kicks en route to the win. The Tigers broke a tie in the
81st minute and survived a flurry of Petrel chances, including
three shots that ricocheted off the post, to get the result.
Sewanee jumped in front in the game's 8th minute on a deep shot
from the right flank that found the back of the net. The Petrels
got the equalizer in the 40th minute when, after a Petrel was taken
down inside the Tiger's box, Mark Lavery converted a penalty kick
into the top shelf. The score remained a 1-1 draw through halftime
and into the late stages until the Tigers' Ford Emerson got past
the Petrel defense and fed Matt Lightfoot on the right flank for a
strike that snuck just inside the far post. Oglethorpe battled
furiously down the stretch to get the equalizer but found no luck,
only an unkind post that deflected away three seemingly good goals.
Oglethorpe outshot Sewanee 18-12 on the afternoon and earned a 6-4
advantage in corner kicks. Prior to the game the team celebrated
Senior Day to commemorate the eight graduating seniors on the
squad: Alex Van Zandt, E.J. Ovie-Ogodo, Nathan Post, Jon Beaver,
Harrison McConnell, Jeff Arsenault, Mark Lavery and Aaron Walker.
Despite the loss, the Petrels posted the program's most wins ever
at 15-3 overall and their 8-1 SCAC mark is also the best all-time
for the team. Oglethorpe earned the No. 2 overall seed in next
weekend's conference tournament to be held in Birmingham. They will
face the winner of Colorado College and Southwestern on Saturday
night at approximately 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Rhodes needing a win to secure their spot in the
SCAC Tournament the Lynx came up short and tied Millsaps 1-1 after
two overtimes. The Lynx closed out the 2011 campaign with a record
of 4-9-3, 3-4-2 in conference play.
Sewanee closed out its 2011 season after splitting two
matches over the weekend. After the Tigers fell just short at
Birmingham-Southern (2-1-Friday), Sewanee shocked No. 25 Oglethorpe
2-1 Sunday afternoon. With their victory over the Stormy Petrels,
the Tigersfinished their 2011 campaign with an 8-7-2 record. At the
same time, Sewanee snapped Oglethorpe's 12-match winning streak and
its SCAC unbeaten record. In that match, senior Alec Peter and
senior Matt Lightfoot both got a goal in Atlanta. In fact,
Lightfoot’s closed out his final season on the Mountain with
team-high 10 goals and 26 points. Overall, Sewanee eight wins gave
the Tigers their highest winning percentage since the 2004 season.
Sewanee also ended the year with a 31-20 advantage in goals.
With a little help from Millsaps and a win on Sunday at Austin
College the Pirates earned the final spot in the first
SCAC-Conference Tournament as the #6 seed with a 4-5 SCAC record
and 7-9-1 overall record. SU made the playoff berth more difficult
with a loss to Dallas on Friday night. UD snuck in a goal in the
87th minute to hand Southwestern the 1-0 loss.
Sunday it was all Southwestern as the Pirates went into overtime
again Austin College after both teams scored goals in regulation.
Just 59 seconds into extra time Southwestern took the game with a
golden goal by Evan Perkins. The win by the Pirates and a tie of
Millsaps/Rhodes lifted SU into the sixth place spot in the
conference. They face Colorado College on Friday, November 4th in
the first round of the SCAC tournament.
#4 Trinity finished off the regular season with two road
wins in SCAC action, defeating both Austin College and the
University of Dallas. The Tigers opened the weekend with a 4-0
shutout win over Austin, clinching a bye in next weekend’s
SCAC Tournament as either the #1 or #2 seed. Trinity then edged
Dallas 2-1 in the regular season finale to earn the top seed in the
tournament. Zach Garcia scored the game-winner against Austin,
while Kyle Porter scored both of Trinity’s goals against
Dallas for his first game-winning goal of the season. Trinity will
receive a bye at the SCAC Tournament next weekend, and will play
the winner of hosting Birmingham-Southern and Centre in the
semifinals. That game is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
To view the entire SCAC Kicks Weekly for week
nine, click here.
