Medaille Sports

It was just a matter of time before the Medaille College men’s soccer team (18-2-2) would breakthrough in the  NCAA Tournament.  In their fourth trip to the Dance the Mavs continued their stellar play with a (3-0) blanking of Denison University (12-5-3).  This game started much like their first round game in 2008 as sophomore Alexander Rouse (Marcellus, NY/Marcellus) blasted home his (17th) goal of the season on a beautiful through ball that was played to him from Gary Boughton (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) just (3:13) into play, giving the Mavs a (1-0) lead.  Rouse scored early in the 2008 game as well.  The Boughton assist stretches his NCAA Career record in that category to (82).  The outcome would be much more favorable this time as the Mavs were able to hold off the Big Red.  Medaille carried the run of play for most of the first half and headed into the break up by one.  They started quickly in the second half as they put pressure on Denison goalkeeper Kevin Donahue (Riverside, CT/Greenwich), finally beating him again with a beautiful two touch goal by George Tor (Lagos, Nigeria) that came off a flick pass from Stuart Ziegler (West Plains, MO/West Plains) in the 59th minute moving the Medaille lead to (2-0).  Donahue registered five stops in the match.  The Big Red had a great chance in the 65th minute as Lenny Mills (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) blistered a shot from just outside the right half of the six that was pushed away by sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Goettel (Syracuse, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) who finished with four saves on the game.  The Mavs would ice the match with a goal by John Siefert (East Amherst, NY/Clarence) in the 77th minute as he beat the goalkeeper to a deflected ball and pushed it into the back of the net.  In the final minutes of the game Denison had some chances but to no avail as Medaille stretched its shutout streak to 1,010 minutes as they have held their opponents without a goal for eleven straight games and seventeen times all season.  The win gives them a (1-2-1) mark in NCAA matches and this will be their second appearance in the Tournament’s Second Round, in 2006 the Mavs received a First Round bye.

The Mavs will get right back at it tomorrow (11/15) as they will face Carnegie Mellon (who defeated Thomas More, 4-2, in the match following Medaille’s victory) at 1:00pm in Gesling Stadium on the campus of Carnegie Mellon in a NCAA Tournament Second Round contest.

Follow the Mavs at 1pm tomorrow via  livestats and a web video broadcast.  Carnegie Mellon has built a  webpage with information as well.