HOUSTON – Trinity's 13th-ranked and #2 seed men's soccer team defeated the #4 seed University of St. Thomas 4-2 to win the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (17-0-3) bring home the conference title for the 23rd time in school history and win the SCAC Tournament title for the seventh time overall. Trinity won the SCAC Championship for the first time since 2018, erasing the memories of being eliminated by St. Thomas each of the previous four SCAC Tournaments.
Less than 20 minutes into the game, it looked like Trinity might run away with the title after scoring two quick goals.
Hunter Cain (Katy, Texas / Cinco Ranch) got Trinity on the board with a goal in the eighth minute of play, finishing off a play that began with a Tiger corner kick.
Louis Instrall (London, England / Hampton School) sent the first corner of the game into the box, but St. Thomas cleared it out of the box. Instrall eventually got it back and lofted it back into the box from the left side, but the defense deflected it once again.
Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) picked up the loose ball and headed for goal along the end line, then cut it back for Cain's goal from point-blank range to make it 1-0.
Just over 10 minutes later, another corner for the Tigers led to a 2-0 advantage. Instrall played the corner to the back post for
JonConnor Rule (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson), who headed it back in front of the goal.
Mark Donnelly (Belfast, Ireland / St. Malachy's College Belfast) redirected the ball towards the net, but his header bounced off the crossbar and into the box. That's when
Tom Whitwell (Warwick, England / Repton School) surged forward with another header that was deflected back to
Zach Anderson (Davis, Calif. / Davis). Anderson's header – the fourth of the sequence – zipped past the keeper.
Instead of an easy win for the Tigers, though, St. Thomas converted just over a minute later to get on the scoreboard and steal the momentum. That changed the game for the next few minutes as the Celts saw a chance to level the score.
Omkar Satpathy (Pleasanton, Calif. / Amador Valley) recorded two of his four saves after allowing the goal, then a foul in the box lined him up to face a penalty shot in the 36th minute. Trinity got the momentum shift it needed as Satpathy dove to his right and stopped the kick for another save that kept the Tigers in front 2-1. The score remained 2-1 at the halftime break.
Fueled by Satpathy's save and a chance to regroup, the Tigers came out firing in the second half. In the 66th minute, Trinity capitalized with a much-needed insurance goal to take a 3-1 lead. Trinity's initial move down the right side was turned away and Whitwell switched the field out wide left to
Cameron Smith (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands / Cayman Prep). Smith cut inside at the top of the box where he found himself surrounded by three defenders. Despite the disadvantage, he managed to slip a pass into the box for
Samuel Theiss (Boerne, Texas / Boerne), who came around to send his cross to the back post for
Will Powell (London, England / Beth's Grammar School). Powell was unmarked and on the run, burying his header into the net to the delight of the Tiger faithful.
It only took several minutes for St. Thomas to answer again to make it a 3-2 game with 17 minutes still left on the clock. Less than a minute later, though, one of the Celts players received a second yellow, leaving St. Thomas to play a man down the rest of the game. That proved to be key as Trinity was able to hold St. Thomas without a shot the rest of the way. The Celts did have some chances in the closing minutes, though, making for a thrilling ending. St. Thomas took a free kick near midfield in the 89th minute, winning a corner on the long ball into the box. The Celts goalkeeper joined the attack and when Trinity cleared the corner, it was a race to see which team would get the ball as the clock wound under a minute. Cain won the race and headed towards the empty net, lofting a pass to the middle of the field for
Ty Jarrett (Austin, Texas / Westlake) who was sprinting towards goal. Jarrett beat the defense to the ball and calmly iced the game with an empty-net score to clinch the game for the Tigers.
Accolades
Knutson was named the Offensive MVP of the Tournament, while Rule was the Defensive MVP. Joining the Tiger duo on the All-Tournament team were Instrall and Cain.
Up Next
Trinity will receive the SCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs and will await tomorrow's NCAA Selection Show to find out the location and opponent for the opening game. This marks the 25th overall appearance in the NCAA Playoffs for the Tiger men's soccer program.
