Early Goal Sends Gators to 1-0 Upset of #15 Wooster

Oct 27, 2004

Box Score

MEADVILLE, Pa. – A goal by senior Jason Figura (Pittsburgh, Pa./ North Hills) in the fifth minute proved to be just enough, as the Allegheny College men’s soccer team blanked the College of Wooster (Ohio) 1-0 Wednesday afternoon at Robertson Field.

The victory improves Allegheny’s record to 8-7-1 overall and 4-4 in the NCAC, while the Scots, ranked 15th in the nation, had their 10-game winning streak snapped while falling to 12-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference. The Allegheny win, coupled with Kenyon’s 2-1 victory over Oberlin (Ohio) College Wednesday, also keeps the Gators’ hope for a berth in next week’s NCAC Tournament alive.

The game’s lone goal came 4:35 into the match, when Figura took a feed from senior Marc Sciulli (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Central Catholic) and slid a shot to the far low post to the left of Wooster keeper David Treleven. The score not only put the Gators ahead 1-0 but was also the first goal allowed by the Scots in eight NCAC matches this season.

That goal proved to be enough, due to a great effort by Allegheny keeper Brian Manougian (Rye, N.H./ Portsmouth). The Gator keeper stopped a pair of Scot shots in the opening half that kept AC ahead going into intermission.

Manougian came up big several times in the second half in the face of a tenacious Wooster attack. The Scots out-shot the Gators 5-2 in the second half, and 9-7 for the game, but Allegheny’s keeper stood tall. He made five saves in the final 45 minutes, including a sprawling stop of a shot to his lower right with 30 seconds to play to keep the visitors off the scoreboard and preserve Allegheny’s conference tournament hopes.

In addition to the shot advantage, Wooster out-cornered AC 8-3, including a 3-0 margin in the second half.

Manougian’s seven saves was his highest total in a regulation match this season and second only to the nine stops he made in a 0-0 tie at Capital (Ohio) University Sept. 4. Treleven registered two saves for the Scots.

Allegheny wraps up the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. match at Earlham (Ind.) College (3-11, 1-6). A Gator victory, combined with losses or ties by Wittenberg (Ohio) University (7-10, 4-4) at Wooster and Oberlin (9-7-2, 4-3-1) against Ohio Wesleyan University (15-2-1, 7-1), would send the Gators to their fifth consecutive NCAC Tournament.

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