Sophomore midfielder Max Gomas artfully kicks the ball. The Eagles will begin their competition for the NCAA Division III Championship this Friday at the WoodPEC. | Photo by Steve Shan, Asst. Photo Editor
By Bennett Ostdiek
Associate Editor
The men’s soccer team played Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) Saturday afternoon in their final regular season game. The game went to double-overtime and ended in a scoreless tie.
“I am really proud of our guys,” Head Coach Sonny Travis said. “We battled for 110 minutes against a good team. Our guys gave a tremendous effort. Soccer is the kind of game where sometimes no one scores.”
The Eagles were named one of 18 teams to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships on Monday.
Travis believes that the Eagles can find success at nationals.
“The key is that we continue to play really strong defense,” Travis said. “Then we have to create offensive chances and have different people step up. That is what it is going to take to be successful in the national tournament.”
The Eagles’ finished the season third in the University Athletic Association (UAA), with a 3-3-1 conference record and a 13-3-2 overall record. The University of Chicago (Ill.) won the UAA title, while Brandeis University (Mass.) finished in second.
“Finishing third in such a power conference as the UAA is pretty impressive,” Travis said. “The conference is always going to be super tough. When it comes time for NCAA at large berths, coming from a tough conference definitely helps because of strength of schedule. We play some of the best teams in the country, and hopefully that will get us ready for NCAA tournament play.”
The Eagles also played extremely well against non-conference opponents. The team went 10-0-1 against regional opponents.
“We have done very well in the region,” Travis said. “Last year we had a couple of losses in our non-conference schedule, and they cost us a bid [to the NCAA Championships]. We were determined to change that, and our guys ran the table.”
Saturday marked the third straight game in which the Eagles’ defense has held its opponents scoreless, and the ninth time overall this season.
“Defensively we accomplished a lot of things,” Travis said. “But it is not just the [defensive] backs and the goalkeeper. It is the pressure that is applied from the forwards on back. It is total team defense. It is something we work a lot on and our guys take a lot of pride in it.”
Junior goalkeeper Abe Hannigan led the Eagles’ defensive efforts, both over the course of season and on Saturday afternoon against Carnegie Mellon. He made two saves during the game en route to his eighth shutout of the year. His goals-against average for the season is 0.56, while his save percentage is .815.
“Abe Hannigan is playing some outstanding soccer,” Travis said. “He keeps us in games.”
The Eagles’ offense managed three shots on goal during the first half on Saturday, but none of them found the back of the net. Junior forward Sebastian Hardington’s shot in the ninth minute was the Eagle’s best chance of the half, but Carnegie’s sophomore goalie Jacob Rice managed to tip it into the crossbar.
Senior defender Noah Rosen delivered a shot on goal in the 16th minute, as did sophomore midfielder Scott Haley in the 37th minute, but the Carnegie keeper saved both of them as well.
The Eagles had two more good chances to score in the second half. In the 73rd minute, Hardington’s strike hit the crossbar, and in the 76th minute, Carnegie’s keeper saved another of Haley’s shots.
Regulation ended with the score tied at 0-0, and the game went to overtime. The Eagles did not manage shots in the first overtime period, while Carnegie managed only one.
In the second overtime junior midfielder Nick Schook had a shot on an open goal, but a Carnegie defender cleared the ball before it could reach the back of the net. The second overtime and the game ended at the 110-minute mark with a 0-0 draw.
“I thought the tie was fine given the circumstances,” Travis said. “We knew that we needed a win or a tie on the road to stand a chance of finishing third place in the conference, which is important as afar as the [national tournament] bids go.”
The absence of senior forward Dylan Price, who suffered an ACL injury last week and is out for the rest of the season, hampered the Eagles’ offense.
“Losing Dylan was a big blow to the team,” Travis said. “Someone else has to step up and create some of those chances that Dylan was creating. We have some young players in the attack, and I think they are going to get better and better.”
The Eagles take the field next in the NCAA tournament, playing Berry College (Ga.) at the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC) on Friday, Nov. 14.
– By Bennett Ostdiek, Associate Editor
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