TAMPA – It was going to take a big effort to derail No.1 Fort Lewis pursuit of the Division II Men’s national championship.
In a game that flowed one way and the other, No.9 Lees-McRae almost accomplished it, but a late goal by David Barden gave the Skyhawks a 1-0 victory on Saturday evening at Pepin-Rood Stadium.
After a spell of pressure had led to a Lees-McRae corner on left, the Skyhawks were able to clear and break quickly through Byron Cephers down the right. Cephers was dispossessed, but the Skyhawks held possession in the Bobcats half, and Kyle Wood’s long, angled cross from the right floated in to find Barden, whose cushioned header back across goal dropped softly into the right side-netting for the only goal of the game in the 78th minute.
“It hung up there for a while,” Barden said. “I see it floating in there, and the defenders, I don’t know if they were more concerned about me, or where the ball was going to land, but I just remember cutting around the guy, and I had to reach up and back as far as I could to find the only open space in the goal. The ‘keeper and the guy couldn’t slide in after it, so I guess I placed it perfectly.”
The victory gave the Skyhawks their second national championship, the first coming in 2005, and according to Barden gave him and the rest of his senior classmates a bit of redemption after having fallen in the 2006 final. It also meant a lot to Coach Oige Kennedy, who took over the side in July as one of the youngest head coaches in college soccer. Aged 27, Kennedy said he was thrilled to have won a title, and create a little history as the first coach to win a Division II men's national title in his first season.
“My main goal was to beat (former Fort Lewis coach) Jeremy Gunn, because he took over the team in ’99 and got beaten in the final,” Kennedy said. “Jeremy’s a mentor to me, and somebody who is a great friend, and a great person to bounce ideas off and everything else, so my motivation was to take the team in one year and win a national title. I knew we had the players to do it, and certainly it’s better being the guy making the decisions than watching the guy who makes the decisions. I take full responsibility for the success, and for the failures, so I’m absolutely delighted.”
In a tightly fought game that didn’t see many clear-cut chances, Fort Lewis had the first in the 17th minute as Fabian Kling’s header hit the right post off a free kick, Euan Purcell’s rebound header being snapped up by LMC goalkeeper Sean Paradise. As the half wore on, though, the Bobcats started to take control, Luke Perry shooting wide in the 35th minute when a through-ball wouldn’t quite settle properly for him.
LMC coach Chris Whalley said he was proud of his team’s effort, and thought that for good periods they were the better side.
“It’s a fantastic result for them,” Whalley said. “I thought we played a massive part in a very, very entertaining final. I thought we were a little unlucky at times, I thought we were the better team for long periods in the game, but that’s the game of soccer.”
The best chance for the Bobcats to take the lead came in the 60th minute when Berin Boracic latched onto a ball flicked over the top of the Skyhawks’ defense. Boracic had his shot saved as Fort Lewis goalkeeper Zane Wells came off his line to deny him, but the rebound came to David Palmer, who saw his shot cleared off the line by Dale Parker.
The Skyhawks were able to hold the Bobcats at bay for the final 10 minutes though, the only real opportunity for Lees-McRae being ruled out for offside, leaving the Skyhawks and their vocal contingent of fans headed back to Colorado with the championship.
“Everything balanced out, and it looked like it was our year all season,” Kennedy said. “We’re just glad to finally get the reward at the end of it.”
Showing posts with label Lees-McRae. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lees-McRae. Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Colleges: Paradise lifts Bobcats to shootout victory
TAMPA – If there is an art to saving penalty kicks, Lees-McRae goalkeeper Sean Paradise appears to have mastered it.
Paradise saved a spot kick in regulation, and then in the opening round of a penalty shootout, as the Bobcats first rallied from a two-goal deficit with 10 minutes to play in regulation and then won a shootout 5-3 against Lewis College to advance to the NCAA Division II Men’s championship after the two sides had played to a 2-2 tie after regulation and overtime at Pepin-Rood Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
“Whenever a striker approaches the ball, I kind of watch his hips, and see if he’s going to open or close them,” Paradise said. “If he opens, he’s going to open me up, and if he closes them he’s going to come across me, depending on whether he’s right- or left-footed. I just watch the hips, and I managed to get lucky a couple of times today.”
After Lees-McRae had held the better of play for most of the first half and early in the second, Lewis got the opportunity to take the lead when Lees-McRae’s Luke Staats was penalized for a handball in the penalty area. Robert McGowan stepped up for the Flyers, but his low shot to the right was turned away for a corner by Paradise.
McGowan had another chance to score from the spot when he took the Flyers first shot in the shootout, but Paradise again read him correctly, diving to his right to push his shot away, giving the Bobcats an advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I figured he wouldn’t go the same way twice on me,” Paradise said. “He ended up going the other way, and I ended up guessing right again.”
All five Bobcats – Richard Guffens, David Palmer, Lee Squires, Berin Boracic and Jamie Bladen – converted their shots, putting Lees-McRae into Saturday’s championship game against No.1 Fort Lewis.
The drama of the shootout was almost matched by the drama of the final 15 minutes of the game, as Lewis appeared to have the game put away after a pair of goals by Nestor Hernandez gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go. Hernandez opened the scoring in the 79th minute, controlling a long clearance by goalkeeper Sebastian Kieruzal in the penalty area before beating his defender and driving a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
He then doubled the Flyers lead 57 second later, first releasing teammate Charlie Bucio on a run into the left channel before peeling off into the penalty area. Bucio cut back from the byline onto his right foot, and sent a return pass to Hernandez, who shot low first-time into the net.
Lees-McRae wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, and got a glimmer of hope with five minutes to go when Bladen released Grant Elder on the right of the penalty area, and Elder shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
The Bobcats then tied the game in the 87th minute when, after sustained pressure, Bladen picked up the ball in midfield, weaved past a defender and shot from 25 yards. The shot was blocked by the Lewis defense, but the ball caromed out to Squires on the right of the penalty area, and after taking a touch to control and move into the penalty area, he shot home to tie the game.
“I think especially after we got the second goal, we got a little too confident, possibly,” Hernandez said. “We lost the rhythm of our game, we were doing great, like coach said, for 83, 84 minutes, and they popped one in right after that, and then they got the second one. We didn’t do the job for 90 minutes.”
Lees-McRae coach Chris Whalley said while he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, a sentiment echoed by his players, he thought the determination his side had shown was indicative of the spirit within the squad.
“I didn’t think we played very well today, but we’re very excited to be going to the national championship game,” Whalley said. “Hopefully we can play a little bit better on Saturday and hopefully get another result like this, but all-in-all, even though our play wasn’t very good, I think you’ve seen a little bit about what our character is like. We’re 2-0 down with six minutes to go, and we’ve come back and won the game, so for that I’m very, very proud of the boys.”
Paradise saved a spot kick in regulation, and then in the opening round of a penalty shootout, as the Bobcats first rallied from a two-goal deficit with 10 minutes to play in regulation and then won a shootout 5-3 against Lewis College to advance to the NCAA Division II Men’s championship after the two sides had played to a 2-2 tie after regulation and overtime at Pepin-Rood Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
“Whenever a striker approaches the ball, I kind of watch his hips, and see if he’s going to open or close them,” Paradise said. “If he opens, he’s going to open me up, and if he closes them he’s going to come across me, depending on whether he’s right- or left-footed. I just watch the hips, and I managed to get lucky a couple of times today.”
After Lees-McRae had held the better of play for most of the first half and early in the second, Lewis got the opportunity to take the lead when Lees-McRae’s Luke Staats was penalized for a handball in the penalty area. Robert McGowan stepped up for the Flyers, but his low shot to the right was turned away for a corner by Paradise.
McGowan had another chance to score from the spot when he took the Flyers first shot in the shootout, but Paradise again read him correctly, diving to his right to push his shot away, giving the Bobcats an advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I figured he wouldn’t go the same way twice on me,” Paradise said. “He ended up going the other way, and I ended up guessing right again.”
All five Bobcats – Richard Guffens, David Palmer, Lee Squires, Berin Boracic and Jamie Bladen – converted their shots, putting Lees-McRae into Saturday’s championship game against No.1 Fort Lewis.
The drama of the shootout was almost matched by the drama of the final 15 minutes of the game, as Lewis appeared to have the game put away after a pair of goals by Nestor Hernandez gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go. Hernandez opened the scoring in the 79th minute, controlling a long clearance by goalkeeper Sebastian Kieruzal in the penalty area before beating his defender and driving a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
He then doubled the Flyers lead 57 second later, first releasing teammate Charlie Bucio on a run into the left channel before peeling off into the penalty area. Bucio cut back from the byline onto his right foot, and sent a return pass to Hernandez, who shot low first-time into the net.
Lees-McRae wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, and got a glimmer of hope with five minutes to go when Bladen released Grant Elder on the right of the penalty area, and Elder shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
The Bobcats then tied the game in the 87th minute when, after sustained pressure, Bladen picked up the ball in midfield, weaved past a defender and shot from 25 yards. The shot was blocked by the Lewis defense, but the ball caromed out to Squires on the right of the penalty area, and after taking a touch to control and move into the penalty area, he shot home to tie the game.
“I think especially after we got the second goal, we got a little too confident, possibly,” Hernandez said. “We lost the rhythm of our game, we were doing great, like coach said, for 83, 84 minutes, and they popped one in right after that, and then they got the second one. We didn’t do the job for 90 minutes.”
Lees-McRae coach Chris Whalley said while he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, a sentiment echoed by his players, he thought the determination his side had shown was indicative of the spirit within the squad.
“I didn’t think we played very well today, but we’re very excited to be going to the national championship game,” Whalley said. “Hopefully we can play a little bit better on Saturday and hopefully get another result like this, but all-in-all, even though our play wasn’t very good, I think you’ve seen a little bit about what our character is like. We’re 2-0 down with six minutes to go, and we’ve come back and won the game, so for that I’m very, very proud of the boys.”
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