HOUSTON, Texas -- Trinity University earned its first SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament title since 2018, taking a hard-fought 4-2 victory over three-time defending champion University of St. Thomas Sunday evening at Sabercats Stadium. Official Championships Website | Photo Album | Tournament Stats | Interview with Head Coach Paul McGinlay, senior Will Powell and graduate student, JonConnor Rule
After winning seven of the first 10 events, the TU Tigers snapped five-year winless streak at the conference tournament to take the program's 22nd overall championship - the fifth-most of any program in SCAC history trailing only Trinity women's soccer (28), Trinity men's tennis (28), Trinity women's tennis (26) and Trinity women's swimming and diving (24).
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- Trinity jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of early goals from Hunter Cain and Zachary Anderson in the game's first 18 minutes.
- A minute after Trinity scored its second goal, St. Thomas' Daniel Castro found the back of the net for his third goal of the tournament to pull the Celts within one at 2-1.
- Castro forced a penalty in the box in 36th minute, but Trinity keeper Omkar Satpathy made the diving stop to keep the Tigers in the lead - lead which held through the end of the half.
- Trinity's Will Powell gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead with his goal in the 66th minute, but seven minutes later, UST's Jeth Flores brought the Celts back within a goal at 3-2.
- Disaster struck for St. Thomas a minute later, however, as the Celts' Ian Alvarez picked up his second caution of the contest and the team was left to play a man down for the remainder of regulation.
- After pushing the keeper up, Trinity's Ty Jarrett nailed an empty netter in the game's waning minute to provide the final margin.
- Trinity outshot St. Thomas, 20-11 with three more shots on goal (9-6), and the Tigers doubled up the Celts 10-5 in corners.
TRINITY UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Zachary Anderson (M): 3 shots, 2 shots on goal, 1 goal
- Hunter Cain (M): 2 shots on goal, 1 shot on goal, 1 goal, 1 assist
- Adam Knutson (M): 3 shots, 1 shot on goal, 1 assist
- Samuel Theiss (M): 2 shots, 1 assist
- Omkar Satpathy (GK): 90 minutes played, 2 goals allowed, 4 saves
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Daniel Castro (F): 6 shots, 3 shots on goal, 1 goal
- Jeth Flores (M): 1 shot, 1 shot on goal, 1 goal
- Hani Ahmadie (F): 1 shot, 1 assist
- Diego Lazo (M): 1 assist
- Christo Gayoso (GK): 90 minutes played, 4 goals allowed, 5 saves
NOTABLES
- St. Thomas had its streak of three consecutive SCAC tournament final wins snapped. The Celts have appeared in five straight SCAC Tournament finals, the second-longest streak in league history, trailing only Trinity who advanced to seven straight from 2012-2018.
- Daniel Castro's goal gave him three for the tournament and eight for his career, the most in SCAC history and three clear of the second-highest of five from TLU's Luis Green.
- The combined six goals scored is the most ever in a SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament final. The previous high was five when Centre defeated Trinity, 3-2, in sudden-death overtime at the 1991 champoinships.
- Before Sunday, Trinity had gone 0-3-1 against St. Thomas and had been eliminated by the Celts in the each of its last four tournament appearances.
- The loss was the first-ever for St. Thomas in five SCAC tournament appearances and now have a 7-1-3 all-time mark.
- Trinity will finish its conference run with an all-time mark of 21-6-3 in SCAC Tournament action.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Rex Karjian, Jr. D (Colorado College)
- Charlie Wagner, Sr., M (Colorado College)
- Luca Cipleu, Sr., F (Southwestern University)
- Keegan Hardy, Sr., M (Southwestern University)
- Diego Lazo, Sr., M (University of St. Thomas)
- Daniel Castro, Sr., F (University of St. Thomas)
- Jeth Flores, Jr. D (University of St. Thomas)
- Louis Instrall, Gr., M (Trinity University)
- Hunter Cain, Sr., M (Trinity University)
- JonConnor Rule, Gr., D (Trinity University) – Tournament Defensive MVP
- Adam Knutson, Jr., M (Trinity University) – Tournament Offensive MVP
UP NEXT
As SCAC tournament champions, Trinity (17-0-3), will receive the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament and will find out its opponent when brackets are released tomorrow. St. Thomas ends its season with a 11-6-2 mark.
