Gators Make 7th Trip to NCAC Postseason

Oct 31, 2006

MEADVILLE, Pa. – Somehow and someway, the Allegheny College men’s soccer team always manages to play its cards right and sneak into the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament year in and year out. That trend held true for the 2006 season as the Gators secured their seventh consecutive postseason appearance thanks to a win on the final day of the regular season and a little help from an old rival.

Sitting in sixth place in the standings entering last Saturday’s contest against fifth-place Wittenberg University, Allegheny (11-4-2, 5-4-0 NCAC) needed a win and a loss from one of the teams tied for third – The College of Wooster and Oberlin College. After each netting goals within the game’s first four minutes, the Gators and Tigers played almost 100 minutes of scoreless soccer until junior captain Eric Sloan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) swiped the ball from a defender and laced the game-winner into the right corner of the net, giving the hosts a thrilling 2-1 victory amidst all the elements Mother Nature could muster.

Allegheny wasn’t assured of a spot in the tournament until about an hour later when news came across the wire that second-place Denison University (10-4-2, 7-1-1 NCAC) had eliminated Wooster from contention with a 4-1 decision. The Gators join No. 1 seed Ohio Wesleyan University (13-0-3, 7-0-2 NCAC) as the only teams to have appeared in the conference tourney all seven seasons, while the Big Red, who Allegheny has played more times (three) in the NCAC postseason than any other team, will be making their sixth showing. Oberlin (8-4-5, 5-2-2 NCAC) picked up its second consecutive appearance with a 4-0 win over Wabash College last Saturday.

“I think it speaks highly on the strength of our conference as a whole,” commented head coach Angelo Panzetta on the competition within the NCAC for the top four spots. “We’re proud of the fact we’ve kept the string of postseason appearances alive knowing how strong the NCAC is in men’s soccer.”

Allegheny will meet the Battling Bishops, ranked No. 4 in the latest NSCAA/adidas® national rankings and first in the Great Lakes Region, on Wednesday, November 1, in Delaware, Ohio, at 7 p.m. Ohio Wesleyan University took the regular season meeting 2-1 at home, but the Gators actually managed to out-shoot the hosts by a 21-9 margin.

“The players gave a great effort against Wittenberg in a game that had a playoff atmosphere,” said Panzetta. “We hope we can build off that momentum for Wednesday’s contest at Ohio Wesleyan.”

Since 2000 when the NCAC Tournament was established to determine the automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Tournament, only two teams have won the title – Ohio Wesleyan five times and Allegheny in 2004. The Gators and Bishops have met twice in the NCAC Tournament, both of which were in championship games. Allegheny dropped a 1-0 decision in the 2002 title game and fell 3-0 to Ohio Wesleyan just last fall. The Bishops own an 11-1 record in league postseason play, while the Gators have won four of nine contests.

If the Blue and Gold have anything going in their favor, it may be they experience they have from winning the tournament title two seasons ago. Similar to this season, the 2004 squad snuck into the postseason as the No. 4 seed with some key wins down the stretch. The Gators went on to post a 1-0 victory over top-seed Wooster in the semifinals, before getting by No. 3 Denison 5-3 in penalty kicks to grab their first tournament championship. The magical season continued with penalty kick victories over Transylvania University and Carnegie Mellon University in the NCAA Division III Tournament, before a loss to eventual national champion Messiah College in the round of 16.

Ohio Wesleyan may have the edge on paper, but Panzetta feels his team is up to the challenge and may have a little more to play for.

“We’re looking forward to the re-match after playing them so even during the regular season,” said the Gator head coach. “With their strength of schedule and they way they’ve played this season, Ohio Wesleyan will likely get an at-large bid to nationals. We have a lot more to play for because we have to win this game to get back to the NCAA Tournament.”

Offensively, Allegheny features a balanced scoring attack with 10 players getting into the scoring column this fall. Three Gators have lit the lamp five times, including seniors Alan Carr (Blairstown, N.J./Blair Academy) and Mark Dobish (New Wilmington, Pa./Wilmington Area) and sophomore Jim Beyer (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon). Dobish, who also is tied for the team-lead with three assists, paces the squad with 13 points. Similar to its opponent, Ohio Wesleyan has 13 players with goals this fall, paced by Craig Neal’s 10. Neal leads the Bishops with 23 points this season, while Brandon Bianco is the team leader with four assists and has 12 points.

On the defensive side of the field, Wednesday’s match up features two of the top teams in the NCAC with Allegheny posting a 0.72 goals against average and seven shutouts and Ohio Wesleyan recording a miniscule 0.32 GAA and 11 shutouts. Junior Ryan Larkin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) has started all 17 games in goal for the Gators this fall, notching 51 saves and a .797 save percentage. His counterpart in the opposing goal will be Jamison Dague, who has allowed just five goals and leads the NCAC with a paltry .912 save percentage.

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