Central Regional Match Recaps

Concordia University (Wis.) 2, St. Norbert College (Wis.) 0

The Falcons are 31-10-3 over the same period of time, have won back to back Lake Michigan Conference (LMC) titles, and own a two year 3-1 record against St. Norbert College. The Falcons and Green Knights have squared off in Round One of the NCAA tourney each of the past two seasons, and Concordia University has won both times. Yesterday the score was 2-0 and the Falcons were clearly the dominant team.

"They (St. Norbert College) were significantly better than we were when we played earlier this fall in a non-conference game," opined Falcon boss Tom Saleska. "Their defense physically dominated our offense." St. Norbert College won that match 1-0 but the hard-charging Falcons have won 10 of 11 since that defeat, including eight straight during an undefeated LMC season.

Concordia University got on the board early in Thursday's contest as Thomas Goines blasted a worm burner into the back of the net after defender John Saleska played a great ball into the St. Norbert College box at 13:44. Concordia University's Brandon Chapman scored at 38:42 off a Peter Schreiber assist. From that point on, both goalies were outstanding and swirling 20 mile an hour winds played havoc with balls in the air.

Into the fire go the Falcons as they travel to UW-Oshkosh for a 10:30am matchup against nationally ranked Wheaton College (15-3-2) on Friday morning. UW-Oshkosh is part of the same pool and the Titans (18-0) host Hope College (14-3-4) at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. The winners of those two games will do battle at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday for a spot in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Championship.

Hope College (Mich.) 3, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 1

On Friday (Nov. 14), Hope College (14-3-2) travels to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a second round game. A year ago Hope College also traveled to UW-Oshkosh for the second round and gained a 2-0 victory, but earlier this season in a tournament at UW-Oshkosh bowed to the host Titans 2-0.

Battling crosswinds that reached an estimated 35 miles per hour in Whitewater, the Flying Dutchmen scored twice in the final 15 minutes of the game to break a 1-1 tie. Eric Plewka put Hope College ahead in the 19th minute with an assist credited to Karter Klingenberg. Hope College led 1-0 at intermission, but Whitewater knotted the score on Dan Zwerling's goal five minutes into the second half.

Hope College scored two unanswered goals in a span of six minutes, first in the 75th by Klingenberg with an assist from Steve Lepper and the next in the 81st by Ed Huebner off a corner kick from Devin McNeil.

Hope College held an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal. Goalkeeper Jake Hofmeister needed to make just one save.

Hope College is appearing in the NCAA championships for the eighth time in school history. This marks the fourth time the Dutchmen have advanced past the first round. Friday's match marks the third time Hope College has met UW-Oshkosh in the tournament (1994 and 2002).

Wheaton College (Ill.) 7, Concordia University (Wis.) 2

The seven Wheaton College goals in the victory over Concordia University are the most scored by the Thunder in NCAA Tournament play. Today's contest was the 74th match for Wheaton College in the NCAA Tournament and the 56th time Wheaton College has participated in the NCAA Division III Tournament, since the division started its men's soccer tournament in 1974.

Junior Nick Fichera scored his 10th goal of the season 5:56 into the match to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead. Senior tri-captain Ian Lovett gave Wheaton College a 2-0 lead 9:04 into the match when he scored off of a Stephen Rigby assist. Concordia University scored its first goal 38:24 into the match when Peter Schreiber scored a goal.

Wheaton College held a 2-1 lead at halftime and it stayed at that until Thunder senior Michael Rigby scored off of a Brian Koontz assist at the 60:45 mark of the match. Schreiber cut the Wheaton College lead to 3-2 when he scored his second goal of the day off of a penalty kick. Wheaton College broke the game open with a pair of goals by sophomore Justin Risma. Risma's first goal of the match came 69:23 into the contest off of an assist by Lovett and Risma scored off of a Seth Barkett assist at the 79:18 mark for a 5-2 Wheaton College advantage. Sophomore Brad Marshall scored 80:17 into the match thanks to a Sean Pearman assist for a 6-2 Thunder lead. Tyler Hall's fourth goal of the year came 83:35 into the match off of an assist by Marshall to give the Thunder the 7-2 final score.

Wheaton College out-shot Concordia University,19-10, and owned a 2-1 advantage in corner kicks. Thunder netminder Pat King made five saves and allowed to goals. Goalkeeper Jake Banas played 80 minutes in net with nine saves and allowed six goals. Steve Purcell relieved him, making one save and allowing one goal in 10 minutes of work.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 2, Hope College (Mich.) 0

The victory advances UW-Oshkosh (19-0) to the third round of the 44-team NCAA Division III Championship, where the Titans will host Wheaton College (Ill.) on Saturday (Nov. 15) at the Kolf Sports Center Complex. Two weeks ago (Nov. 1) on the Titans' home pitch, UW-Oshkosh topped Wheaton College (16-3-2) by a 3-1 count.

UW-Oshkosh, which was ousted by Hope College in the second round of the 2002 NCAA Division III Championship, broke Friday's scoreless tussle on Winn's goal at the 74:02 mark of the second half. Assisting on Winn's 10th goal of the season were Derek Kasten and Joel Wichmann. Winn has now scored a goal in each of the Titans' last seven matches.

The Titans held their one-goal advantage over Hope College (14-4-4) until Kasten scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season with 3:14 to play. His 41st career goal came via passes from Ryan Stone and Shane Lohr.

Hope College outshot UW-Oshkosh in the contest, 11-7, while holding a 7-6 advantage in corner kicks. UW-Oshkosh goalkeeper Ryan Dineen made six saves in the match as he recorded his 11th shutout of the season. Goalkeeper R. Jacob Hofmeister had a pair of saves for Hope College, which concludes its eighth appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 1, Wheaton College (Ill.) 0

UW-Oshkosh (20-0) now elevates to the quarterfinal round of the 44-team NCAA Division III Championship, where the Titans will play either Dominican University (Ill.) or John Carroll University (Ohio) next weekend (Nov. 22 or 23). Dominican University (19-2-1) and John Carroll University (17-4) square off Sunday (Nov. 16) in Granville, Ohio, for the right to join UW-Oshkosh in the quarterfinal round.

UW-Oshkosh and Wheaton College (16-4-2) battled to a standstill for 89 minutes before Kasten headed the ball into the net off a Ryan Stone corner kick at the 89:10 mark of the contest. Kasten's goal was not only his team-leading 20th of the season, but also the 1,000 scoring strike in the 20-year history of the UW-Oshkosh men's soccer program.

Wheaton College, which advanced to the quarterfinal round of last year's NCAA Division III Championship, outshot UW-Oshkosh in each half for a 14-11 overall advantage. Goalkeepers Ryan Dineen of UW-Oshkosh and Pat King of Wheaton College combined to save 17 shots in the match, with Dineen totaling 11. Dineen's performance lowered his goals against average on the season to 0.27.

In addition to Dineen, UW-Oshkosh also received stellar defensive play from Darren Gallagher, C.J. Lipinski, Shane Lohr, Johnny Malan and Ben Olson. The group helped UW-Oshkosh record its 15th shutout of the season and win 20 straight matches for only the 10th time in NCAA Division III history.

UW-Oshkosh cut its deficit in the all-time series against Wheaton College to 5-8-1 by defeating the Thunder for the third straight time. Just two weeks ago (Nov. 1) in Oshkosh, the Titans defeated Wheaton College by a 3-1 count.