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Gators Set for NCAC Tournament
October 30, 2007
MEADVILLE, Pa. - For the fifth consecutive season, the Allegheny men’s soccer team (10-7, 5-4 NCAC) will vie for a conference title in the four-team North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Gators, the #4 seed, will travel to Gambier, Ohio on Wednesday to battle #1-seeded Kenyon.
“Our seniors have been a part of three playoff teams,” noted head coach Angelo Panzetta. “I expect that will have an impact because they have an idea of what the tournament is like and know that finding a way to win is not easy.”
The Gators earned their spot in the tournament as a result of a 5-4 record in conference regular season play. The Blue and Gold opened at 5-1 before dropping their final three games in league play. However, Panzetta isn’t overly concerned with the squad’s recent losing skid.
“I’m a little concerned, but I know we played a lot of close games this year and set ourselves up to play good defense. In each of the losses, we still created chances and gave ourselves an opportunity.”
This season, the Gator offense has been led by freshman forward Peter Subasic’s (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) team-best four goals and one assist, junior forward Jim Beyer’s (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon) three goals and one assist, and senior midfielder Eric Sloan’s one goal and team-high three assists.
Between the pipes, senior Ryan Larkin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) turned in a stellar regular season, posting a school-record tying eight shutouts to go along with a 0.70 goals against average and 78 saves. He also tied the career mark at Allegheny with 16 shutouts over the last two seasons alone.
“We will try to take this game as business as usual,” said Panzetta. “It’s a tough road game at a good team, so we will need to focus on the little things.”
The Gators fell to Kenyon (14-2-1, 7-1-1 NCAC) in the regular season finale tihs past Saturday, losing 1-0 after an own goal late in the contest.
“We have a similar system compared to Kenyon,” noted Panzetta. “Our keys on Wednesday will be focusing on our transition and reacting to their attack. We also need to create rushes on offense to give ourselves scoring opportunities.”
The winner of tomorrow’s game will play the winner of the #2 Ohio Wesleyan vs. #3 Wittenberg matchup in the tournament finals on Saturday.
Allegheny and Ohio Wesleyan are the only two schools in the conference to have appeared in the tournament in each of the last five seasons. This season will mark the first appearance for Kenyon since the 2001 campaign in which they lost 2-0 at Ohio Wesleyan.
Kickoff for tomorrow’s matchup is set for 2:00 p.m.