Men's Soccer 10/28/06 -- Augsburg 1, St. Thomas 1 (2OT)
BOXSCORE
ST. PAUL, Minn. (10/28/06) -- For the first time in program history, the Augsburg College men's soccer team has qualified for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoffs, after recording a 1-1, two-overtime tie with the University of St. Thomas in the regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon at UST's South Field.
Augsburg (13-2-3 overall, 5-2-3 MIAC) finishes as the No. 3 seed in the four-team playoffs, and will travel to St. Peter, Minn., to face No. 2-seed Gustavus Adolphus (15-2-1, 9-1-0 MIAC) in the MIAC playoff semifinals on Tuesday (10/31) at 2 p.m. Gustavus edged Augsburg 1-0 in overtime on Oct. 25 in the only meeting between the two teams this season.
"We were disappointed and happy at the same time," said Augsburg head coach
Greg Holker. "A tie put us in the playoffs, but we felt we should have won the game."
Augsburg is the lone school to have both its men's and women's soccer teams qualified for the MIAC postseason playoffs this year.
Augsburg finished the regular season with its most victories (13) since its MIAC championship season of 1975 (15-2-1), and claimed its most points in league play (13) since its last MIAC title season of 1980 (11-1-3 overall, 9-0-3 MIAC, 21 points).
No. 4 seed Hamline (10-4-2 overall, 5-3-2 MIAC) will travel to Collegeville, Minn., to face top seed St. John's (13-3-1 overall, 9-1-0 MIAC) in the other conference semifinal on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The conference championship game will be next Saturday (11/4) at the highest remaining seed.
St. Thomas (10-5-3 oveall, 5-3-2 MIAC) finished in a fourth-place tie with Hamline and Carleton, but Hamline earned the playoff bid on tiebreaker criteria.
Andrew Connor (Jr., Becket, Mass./North Muskegon (Mich.) HS) scored on a cross from
Ryan Sorensen (Fr., Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) in the 26th minute for Augsburg's lone goal.
"
Andrew Connor was an important part of today's result, for more than his goal," Holker said. "He did well to hold the ball for us up front, and allow the rest of the team to come forward."
The Tommies tied the game in the 84th minute on a breakaway, unassisted goal from Joe Voeller. His goal was just the fifth given up by Augsburg this season; Augsburg has outscored its opponents by a 36-5 margin.
"We made one mistake in the center of the back, and Voeller made us pay with just a few minutes remaining in regulation," Holker said.
Augsburg goalkeeper
Pascaul Venter (So., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) claimed six saves, while St. Thomas' Daniel Hutton had four saves. St. Thomas outshot Augsburg by a 16-9 margin, including a 7-3 edge in the second half.
"Pascaul made one tremendous save in the first half, and did well to fight through a rib injury he suffered after a late challenge," Holker said.
Holker also complimented the play of midfielders
James See (So., Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS) and
Ryley Teske (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Lutheran HS).
"
James See almost ended it in the first overtime when his strike from 20 yards out went just outside the left post," Holker said. "
Ryley Teske was very good today, and has been the last week. He will be very important in our playoff match with Gustavus on Tuesday."