News Release
NCAC Men's Soccer Roundup - Oct. 21
NCAC TITLE, TOURNEY BERTHS UP FOR GRABS
Kenyon (5-1-1, 12-2-1) and Wittenberg (5-1-1, 11-3-2) enter the final week of the regular season knotted in first place. The Lords and Tigers are each gunning for their first North Coast Athletic Conference championship in several years: Kenyon has claimed five NCAC titles with the last coming in 1997; Wittenberg has claimed one crown � the 1993 championship, which the Tigers shared with Kenyon. Each squad looks to accumulate league points on the road this week. The Lords travel to eighth-place Oberlin (2-4-1, 7-6-3) on Wednesday and to third-place (tie) Allegheny (5-2-0, 10-5-0) on Saturday. The Tigers head to 10th-place Wabash (0-7-0, 3-13-0) on Wednesday and then to third-place (tie) Ohio Wesleyan (5-2-0, 12-5-0) on Friday evening.
Ohio Wesleyan, the defending NCAC champion, and Allegheny also have the conference title in their sights as the two share third place in the standings, just one point behind the leaders. The Battling Bishops are gunning for their fourth-straight, and 17th overall title, while the Gators are hunting for their first. Ohio Wesleyan opens the week at home against fifth-place Hiram (3-3-1, 11-3-2) on Tuesday; Allegheny travels to seventh-place Wooster (2-3-2, 6-6-2) the following day.
The top four teams are also jockeying for a berth in the upcoming NCAC Tournament, along with Hiram and sixth-place Denison (3-4-0, 9-5-1). The six teams are vying for one of four slots in the season-ending event, which determines the NCAC�s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Terriers and Big Red have perhaps the longest odds of making the Tournament, but they do have a shot depending upon which team wins their meeting on Saturday in Granville, along with losses for Kenyon, Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan and Allegheny this week. Denison is at ninth-place Earlham (2-5-0, 5-11-0) on Tuesday, the same day Hiram is at Ohio Wesleyan.
Also on Saturday, Earlham travels to Wooster and Wabash heads to Oberlin.
Polls: Wittenberg is fourth in the NSCAA/adidas Great Lakes Region Poll, followed by Kenyon in fifth, Allegheny in eighth and Ohio Wesleyan in ninth. Wittenberg received votes in the D3Kicks.com national Top 25.
Notes:
ALLEGHENY senior goalkeeper Ryan Larkin (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) posted his eighth shutout of the season, and a school-record tying 16th career shutout to lead the Gators past Hiram, 1-0. He made five saves in the game. Sophomore James Fulton (New York, NY/Friends Seminary) found the back of the net for the first time this season, with 2:47 left on the clock. The victory helped Allegheny to a 6-2 record in one-goal games this season. The Gators closed out their week with a 2-0 loss to first-place (tie) Wittenberg, allowing more than one goal for the first time in over a month. Larkin made five saves in the loss ...
Senior Ryan Linn (Zanesville, OH/West Muskingum) scored three first-half goals to lead DENISON to a 3-0 shutout over Wooster. Linn�s first career hat trick catapulted him to the top of the Big Red scoring list this fall as he now has seven goals. He has 19 goals in his Big Red career. Denison opened its week with a 2-0 loss to Ohio Wesleyan ...
EARLHAM freshman Bannett Asingura (Mbarara, Uganda/United World College) scored the Quakers� lone goal last week, in a 4-1 loss to Wittenberg. He is second in points for Earlham with 17 over 15 games (6 goals, 5 assists, 1.1 ppg). Earlham also fell to Ohio Wesleyan, 1-0 last week ...
HIRAM saw its four-game unbeaten streak snapped after a 1-0 loss to Allegheny. However, the Terriers rebounded for a 2-1 win over Oberlin on the strength of two goals from sophomore David Krems (Lakewood, OH/Lakewood) ...
KENYON freshman Felix Hoffmann (Bergheim, Germany/Trinity-Pawling, NY) scored twice and assisted on another goal to direct the Lords to a 3-0 win over Wabash. Hoffman has 16 goals thus far this season, matching Tony Mohammed�s 16 goals during the 1996 season for the seventh-best, single-season mark in the program�s history ...
OBERLIN dropped its only game of the week, 2-1 to Hiram. Junior Kyle Taljan (North Ridgeville, OH/St. Ignatius) put the Yeomen on the board with his first goal of the season ...
OHIO WESLEYAN freshman forward Tyler Wall (Columbus, OH/Upper Arlington) scored a pair of second-half goals to lift the Bishops over Denison, 2-0, last week. He then set up classmate Chad Baker�s (Dublin, OH/Jerome) game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Earlham. Ohio Wesleyan out-shot their opponents 29-13 last week and senior netminder Jamison Dague (Bexley, OH/Bexley) made six saves in the two games ...
WABASH edged Franklin, 1-0, to snap an 11-game losing streak. Sophomore Diego Aliaga (La Paz, Bolivia/UDLP) scored his first career goal to hand the Little Giants the lead in the 14th minute. Senior goalkeeper Jon Miller (Indianapolis, IN/Brebeuf) made the goal stand as the game-winner, recording six saves and posting his second shutout of the season. Wabash closed out the week with a 3-0 loss to first-place (tie) Kenyon ...
WITTENBERG junior Shane Price (Minford, OH/Minford) leads the Tigers with 28 points, thanks to the five goals he scored in a pair of Tiger victories last week. Price notched a hat trick in the Tigers� 4-1 win over Earlham and then was responsible for both goals in a 2-0 win over Allegheny ...
WOOSTER freshman goalkeeper Jordan O�Boyle (Hudson, OH/Western Reserve Academy) made four saves during a scoreless second half in the Fighting Scot�s 3-0 loss at Denison.
-NCAC-
Submitted 2007-10-21 17:26:37 by North Coast Athletic Conference Sports Information Department
