By Kevin Bonner
Unfortunately, this year’s Men’s Soccer season ended the same way it has the previous two years, with a loss to Messiah.
The Jays battled valiantly into overtime, but the defending national champions came out on top 1-0, scoring with less than a minute remaining in the first overtime period.
The game was eerily similar to last season’s Marshmallow Game at Grantham. In 2000, both teams fought for ninety minutes with no score until Messiah’s Mark Ackley netted a perfect goal with four minutes to go for the win.
Last Saturday was a game of similar play. A 90-minute delay held up the start of the game, as Messiah hosted Scranton in a Women’s Soccer NCAA regional game that lasted four overtimes and two rounds of penalty kicks. At about 9:00 p.m., the two teams finally kicked things off on a clear, chilly evening in Grantham.
The Falcons used their speed in the early going to muster a couple of good looks at the goal, but both sailed way over the top crossbar and Etown freshman goalie Edwin Tichenor.
The Jays couldn’t use their defense to push up and keep the ball in the zone because of Messiah’s tremendous team speed, so Etown was undermanned on many of their scoring opportunities.
Nevertheless, both teams couldn’t find the back of the net in the first half as neither team could really find a rhythm. In the second half, Messiah peppered Tichenor, forcing the freshman to make several nice saves.
The Jays’ best opportunity came in the second stanza when sophomore Steve Custer had a two-on-one in the open field, but was tripped up from behind before he could fire off a shot.
After 90 minutes, the score remained knotted at zero. Overtime was more of the same, as Messiah continued to fire shots. Tichenor again was solid in the net and several good looks sailed just wide of the posts.
But Etown couldn’t dodge bullets all night. Several perfect passes from the Messiah front line left Troy Sauer alone on the right side with a 1-on-1 with Tichenor. Tichenor came out of the net to challenge Sauer, who proceeded to chip one over the freshman goalie.
"I either had to give him [Sauer] the entire goal or try to cut the angles off," Tichenor said. It was a last ditch effort and the only thing I could do."
His shot nipped off the crossbar and bounced off. The junior forward had an open shot at the goal, only having to beat Etown freshman defender Jim Dipino, who was the only thing between Sauer and the back of the net.
Sauer fired one off the roof of the net for the game-winner, sending the Messiah fans into a frenzy and a stunned Elizabethtown contingent home on the turnpike with another defeat in Grantham.
The win gave the Falcons their second straight Commonwealth Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they will begin to defendd their national championship this weekend.
For Etown, it marked another tough season ending loss to Messiah. The Jays haven’t beaten the Falcons in ten tries, their last win coming in 1996.
Elizabethtown finished with a 13-7-1 record and a 6-1 conference mark. It was also their 50th consecutive non-losing season and featured a 5-2 win over nationally ranked Greensboro University early in the season.
It also marked the first season under the lights at Ira Herr Field.
Saturday proved the final game of seniors Adam Dively, T.J. Andrisano, Kyle Cooper and Dan Harris. Etown will return a strong sophomore class and several freshmen that played quality minutes for Skip Roderick this season.
You can add a third item to things you are sure of in life, beside death and taxes. In 2002, Messiah and Elizabethtown will battle it out in early November for the conference title.
"I thought we had a very successful season," Tichenor said. "We were a very young team and brought it together. Going in, we were a bunch of individuals and we ended as a team with a lot of potential. We’re going to be a very good team next season.".