Men's Soccer News

Centre 5 - Sewanee 2

This weekend has been marked on our guys calendars since last season. Sewanee and Oglethorpe were the only two SCAC teams to beat Centre last season; arguably the sole reason we didn't make it into the NCAA's last year. A win last season over either one of these teams would have meant an NCAA bid. The boys didn't want to repeat that this season, and thus were looking forward to the match-ups. Sewanee came to town having not won a game; however their schedule has been extremely tough, and have not lost games by wide margins. No doubt they had the mindset that if they beat Centre, their season might turn around. Everyone wants to beat Centre.

The game started out a bit back and forth, with Centre having the better part of the possession, although there wasn't really much control to start. This would put us in a hole early as Sewanee would take advantage of this and notch the first goal of the game. Following a miscommunication in the box, a Sewanee player would take a miss cleared ball and head it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. This would be the spark that we would need and from here on out, we controlled every aspect of the game. Just over 15 minutes later junior striker Nick Judah ( Louisville , KY ) would finish his 10 th goal of the season off a great segment of combination play. Fellow frontrunner Derek Roberts ( Knoxville , TN ) would play into sophomore midfielder Chris Baumann ( Louisville , KY ) who would lead Judah with a one-time ball through the defense. Nick would let his pace take over from there and finish his far post shot to tie the game at 1-1. Just over 5 minutes later, Roberts would notch a goal of his own off some great individual play from our two strikers. Judah would take down a clearance from our defense end around the midline, hold off 3 defenders, and then split two of them into open space. Nick would play onto Roberts who would turn towards goal 50 yards out and take space, attracting several defenders on the way. Roberts would then unleash a left footed blast that would find the far post, side netting for the go ahead goal. Just some unbelievable individual play by what we believe is the best striker tandem in the conference. The half would end with Centre up 2-1. On the half, Centre would outshoot Sewanee 11-4.

The second period would get going in a hurry as Centre continued to control the entire game; from possession to 50/50 balls, Centre looked very dangerous. We would capitalize on that just over 7 minutes in as Roberts would finish for his 4 th goal of the season, and second of the game. Baumann would take a pass from midfielder Matt Corbett (Louisville, KY), touch around his defender, and lay a ball off to Roberts who would calmly slot it home to make the score 3-1. Centre wouldn't stop there as just over 3 minutes later junior midfielder Matt Kowaleski ( Dayton , OH ) would have a bit of magic of his own. Matt would strip the ball from a Sewanee player on the right flank, beat a defender and cut the ball inside around the 18 yard mark. Following a quick step-over to elude a defender, Matt would hit a left footed ball that gave the keeper no chance and put Centre up comfortably 4-1.

Sewanee would add another in their score column and make the score 4-2 in the 59 th minute, but that's as close as they would come. In the 88 th minute junior striker Matt Hoskins ( Lexington , KY ) would add a goal of his own and the game would end 5-2. A fantastic performance by the entire group tonight. We would now move on to Sunday and a tough conference and regional match-up against Oglethorpe University.