Hengel's Goal Sends Washington U. to Quarterfinals

TRANSYLVANIA-WU BOX | PHOTO

St. Louis, Mo., November 17, 2007 – The No. 20 Washington University in St. Louis men’s soccer team advanced to the Sectional Final with a 1-0 win over Transylvania University on Saturday afternoon in the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship at Francis Field in St. Louis, Mo.

Washington U. takes on No. 1 Trinity University in the Sectional Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The winner advances to the national semifinals, held Friday-Saturday, Nov. 23-24, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. This marks the eighth quarterfinal appearance for the Bears in school history.

"This is what you expect in the NCAA Tournament," said Washington University head coach Joe Clarke. "We did not play our best game today, as we were a little nervous and moving slow. We had some good moments, and scored a fantastic goal on a nice combination. We have a tough battle tomorrow against Trinity."

Sophomore John Hengel scored the game-winning goal for the Bears at 54:21 when he took a pass from senior Marshall Plow and fired a shot to the far corner for the lone goal of the game.

Plow beat the Transylvania defense down the right side before sending a pass through to Hengel, who went 10 yards with the ball before taking the shot.

Transylvania outshot Washington U. 6-5 in the first half, but none of the shots by the Pioneers were on goal. Despite Washington University on recorded five shots in the first half, three on net.

Junior Kellen Hayes fired a point blank shot on net at the 19:55 mark, but Transylvania goalkeeper Trey Kramer was right there to make the save. Kramer came up again big for the Pioneers in the 33rd minute, as he deflected sophomore Nat Zenner’s shot from 20 yards outs to keep the game knotted at 0-0.

Washington University outshot Transylvania, 10-8, including 5-2 in the second half. Sophomore John Smelcer recorded the shutout for the Bears, his 10th of the season.

The Bears improved to 16-4-2 with the win, while Transylvania ends its season with a 15-3-3 overall record. The 16 wins are a new single-season high for Clarke, and the most since Washington U. went 16-3-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals in 1995.

No. 1 Trinity Advances to Sectional Final With 2-1 Victory

TRINITY-UW-OSHKOSH BOX

St. Louis, Mo., November 17, 2007 – Top-ranked Trinity University advanced to the Sectional Final with a 2-1 win over the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday afternoon in the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship at Francis Field in St. Louis, Mo.

Trinity (21-0), the 2003 national champion, will take on the winner of No. 20 Washington University and Transylvania University on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Sectional Championship. The winner advances to the national semifinals held Friday-Saturday, Nov. 23-24, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

"When you get to this stage in the tournament, you’re expecting nothing else but a battle," said Trinity University head coach Paul McGinlay "It was a clash of styles. Their athleticism and strength right down the middle was a great asset to them and forced us to play out wide. It’s nice to move on, but at the same time I feel for Toby and his team, they’ve got a great program."

Noe Casavova got the Tigers on the board in the 18th minute as he took a cross from Joe Houchins and one-timed it past UW-Oshkosh goalkeeper Derek Christiansen for his seventh goal of the season. Despite getting outshot 9-5 in the first half, UW-Oshkosh would not go away as Alex Minten headed home a cross from Paul Beach at the 33rd minute to knot the score at 1-1. The goal for Minten was his fifth of the season.

Trinity, though, answered right back six minutes later as Casanova’s free kick from 30 yards out was headed in by Tyrone Petrakis for the game-winning goal.

The Tigers dominated play the entire second half, outshooting UW-Oshkosh 12-2. Christiansen made six saves in the second half for the Titans to keep the game at a one-goal deficit. Wisconsin-Oshkosh, which was making its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance, ends its season with a 17-3-1 overall record.

Christiansen finished with a game-high 11 saves, while David Steinberg made four saves in the win for Trinity.