NCAA-III MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT REGIONAL
Hosted by Wheaton College at Joe Bean Stadium
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
LINK TO THE INTERACTIVE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
FIRST ROUND MATCHES - NOVEMBER 13
Wartburg College 2, Univ. of Chicago 1:
Recap --- Box Score
Calvin College 2, Wheaton 1:
Recap ---
Boxscore
SECOND ROUND - NOVEMBER 14
Calvin 0, Wartburg 0 (Calvin advances 4-2 in a penalty kick shootout): Recap ---
Boxscore
SECOND ROUND - Calvin 0, Wartburg 0
(Calvin advances 4-2 in PK shootout)
Wheaton, Ill. – Calvin College played Wartburg College to a 0-0 tie after 110 minutes of action on Saturday night in Second Round match of the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament. Both teams are 16-4-2 on the season.
The two teams went to a penalty kick shootout to determine which team would advance to next weekend’s Sectional Semifinal of the Division III Tournament. Calvin took a 2-0 lead after the first two rounds of the shootout. Wartburg made a shot in the third round and Calvin’s third shot was tipped by Wartburg goalkeeper Trent Michael, as Calvin held a 2-1 lead after three rounds. Each team made a shot in the fourth round for a 4-2 Calvin advantage. Wartburg needed to score on its fifth shot for the shootout to continue and Calvin goalkeeper Ryan Bratt made the save to send his team to the Sectional.
During tonight’s play Calvin took 20 shots, while Wartburg had 16. Calvin had a 7-0 shot advantage in the first overtime and Wartburg had a 6-1 edge in shots in the second overtime session. Bratt made six saves in net for Calvin tonight, while Michal tallied five saves.
FIRST ROUND - Calvin 2, Wheaton 1
Wheaton, Ill. – Calvin College defeated Wheaton College, 2-1 on Friday night in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament. Wheaton concludes the year with a 14-4-3 overall record. Calvin improves to 16-4-1, as the Knights advance to the tournament’s Second Round. Calvin will face Wartburg College on Saturday night at 6 PM at Wheaton’s Joe Bean Stadium. Wartburg (16-4-1) advanced to Saturday’s Second Round match with a 2-1 victory against University of Chicago (12-4-3).
Tonight’s contest between Wheaton and Calvin was a scoreless tie throughout the entire first half. Calvin out-shot the Thunder 9-5 in the first half.
Calvin took a 1-0 lead early in the second half when Brad Heethuis blasted in a goal off of a well-placed Scott Hooker assist in the 52nd minute. Wheaton tied the match at 1-1 in the 75th minute thanks to #Matt Swartz#’s 13th goal of the season. Wheaton was awarded a free kick that was tapped by #Tyler Risma# and #Cameron Risma# to Swartz who blasted the ball into the back of the net from about 20 yards out. Calvin regained the lead in the 78th minute when Alex McKenzie scored his eighth goal of the year to give the Knights a 2-1 advantage that the Knights held onto for the final outcome.
Calvin out-shot Wheaton 14-10, as the Thunder took 2 corner kicks in the match and Calvin had one. Wheaton goalkeeper #Ryan Seager# made two saves and allowed two goals in 90 minutes of work. Calvin goalkeeper allowed one goal in 90 minutes of action.
FIRST ROUND - Wartburg 2, Chicago 1
Wheaton, Ill. - The Wartburg College men's soccer team defeated University of Chicago 2-1 in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament on Friday night.
The Knights improved to 16-4-1 overall while the Maroons ended their season at 12-4-3. Wartburg will play Calvin College at 6:00 PM on Saturday in a Second Round match of the tournament.
Both teams came out fast on offense as Wartburg struck first at 2:01 into the match. Nate Hedrington headed in a goal with an assist from Kyle McKenna.
Chicago struck right back at 9:51 on a counter-rush. Alex Clifford streaked down the right side and sent a cross to the middle of the goalie box, where Kenzo Manners skipped over the ball and swung with his back heel to put the ball into the left side net.
The score stayed knotted at 1-1 until the second half at the 61:51 mark. Brandon Cook hurdled a prone defender at the top of the attack formation, gathered the deflected ball and rushed into the box one-on-one with the goalie. Cook put the ball past on the right side to give Wartburg a 2-1 lead. Nate Gottsacker picked up the assist.
Chicago outshout Wartburg 18-7 in the game with a 10-3 advantage in corner kicks. The game featured 44 combined fouls and four yellow cards.
Trent Michael picked up the win in goal with four saves and one goal allowed. Chris Giusto took the loss, making four saves with two goals allowed.
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
CALVIN COLLEGE KNIGHTS
The Calvin men’s soccer team heads into the NCAA III Tournament for the third straight year. The Knights gained an automatic bid to the national tournament by winning their third straight MIAA title. Calvin needed a late come-from-behind effort in the league standings to do so but accomplished the feat in thrilling fashion.
After stumbling with late-season losses to Albion and Kalamazoo, Calvin rebounded to defeat Trine 3-2 and Hope 1-0 a week ago. The victory over rival Hope last Saturday allowed Calvin to move past the Flying Dutchmen by one point in the final league standings.
Calvin opened the year in strong fashion, posting a 10-1-1 mark through its first 12 games but then dropped three of its next six before rallying last week.
The Knights have been paced by a balanced offense as six players have 10 points or more on the season. Senior Alex McKenzie leads the scoring attack with seven goals, five assists and 19 points. Calvin’s defense is anchored by sweeperback Greg Snapper who was named the MIAA’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight year earlier this week. Snapper, McKenzie, senior midfielder Luke Holtrop and junior midfielder Dan Kmetz were all named to the All-MIAA first team this week while junior forward Scott Hooker, junior defender Lucas Wilgenburg and freshman Dan Nederhoed were named to the All-MIAA second team.
Calvin is making its ninth trip to the NCAA III Tournament including its fifth in the last six years. The Knights are 5-8 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play.
2009 CALVIN SEASON STATISTICS
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAROONS
Chicago makes its second postseason appearance in four years under Head Coach Scott Wiercinski and its fifth overall. Chicago has a 3-2-3 all-time record in the Division III Tournament.
Chicago brings a 12-3-3 mark into the NCAA tournament. The Maroons shared the University Athletic Association title with Carnegie Mellon and Rochester, but earned an automatic postseason bid as a result of the league’ s tie-breaking procedures.
Chicago enters the tournament with a 6-1-1 mark over its last eight matches. Led by sophomore goalkeeper Chris Giusto (0.62 GAA, 11 ShO), the Maroons have held opponents scoreless in 11 of 18 games, including seven of their last eight regular season affairs.
Offensively, sophomore Stanton Coville leads the Maroons with nine goals -- five of which have been game-winners. Junior Alex Clifford is next with five goals and a team-high five assists.
2009 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SEASON STATISTICS
WARTBURG KNIGHTS
Wartburg is making its seventh straight appearance in the NCAA-III Tournament. The Knights have posted a 6-5-2 all-time record in their six previous postseason berths.
Wartburg enters this weekend’s tournament on a roll. The Knights have won eight of their last nine which includes victories over two-time NCAA Division III Final Four participant Loras in last weekend’s IIAC tournament final that handed the Duhawks their first loss of the season on their home field, a road win at fellow NCAA national tourney qualifier and Midwest Conference tournament champion Grinnell, and four shutouts during the final month of the regular season.
The offense is led by the forward combination of junior Nate Hedrington of Madison, Wis., and freshman Brandon Cook of Bondurant, Iowa. They have combined for 23 of the team’s 45 goals as part of a unit that has had five players score two-or-more game-winning goals. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Trent Michael of Urbandale, Iowa, is a returning All-American and has six shutouts to his credit going into the weekend. He’s caught fire of late too by being part of the four shutouts in the last month.
2009 WARTBURG SEASON STATISTICS
WHEATON THUNDER
This year’s trip to the postseason is Wheaton’s 17th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Tournament, the longest active streak in Division III. The program has made 31 NCAA appearances and is tied for the most appearances in this history of the tournament. Wheaton is 40-27-3 all-time in the postseason.
Wheaton won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s (CCIW) automatic bid to the tournament with a 3-1 advantage in a shootout against Elmhurst in the CCIW Tournament Championship. Wheaton tied the CCIW Champion Bluejays 2-2 in the match, but three stops by freshman goalkeeper Ryan Seager in the shootout led to Wheaton’s postseason bid.
Senior Matt Swartz, the 2009 Co-CCIW Player of the Year, leads Wheaton with 12 goals and six assists. Sophomore Drew Golz added six goals, with five assists in his debut at Wheaton, after transferring from Air Force Academy. Stephen Mesko and Tyler Risma have each scored four goals. All-CCIW senior Damon Brown leads a Wheaton defense that has posted nine shutouts this year, with a 0.86 goals against average (GAA). Seager has been in net for four shutouts this season, with a 0.84 GAA.
2009 WHEATON SEASON STATISTICS
