San Antonio - The Trinity men's soccer team completed their undefeated regular season with a 4-0 win at home to Centenary College on Sunday. Trinity will now be the #2 seed in next weekend's SCAC Championships, facing off against #3 seed Southwestern University in Houston on Friday.
The Tigers (15-0-3) continued their strong form on both sides of the ball, remaining the only team ranked in the top 10 nationally in both goals against average and scoring offense. This game will be Trinity's last ever SCAC regular season game as they will move to the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) as of next season. It was also the 19th all-time meeting between the two sides, with Trinity extending their perfect record to 19-0 against the Gents.
The Rundown
Trinity started quite slowly on a humid afternoon in San Antonio as they were unable to trouble the Centenary goalkeeper in the early stages of the game. They have scored in every game this season and it took 32 minutes before they opened the scoring in this one, as
Will Powell (London, England / Beth's Grammar School) crossed the ball in from the right, landing at the feet of
Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs), who converted past the keeper for his 14th goal of the season. Knutson and Powell finished the regular season leading the SCAC in goals scored and total assists respectively, with this goal giving Knutson a place in the top 25 of leading goalscorers in Trinity history.
With postseason implications at stake, the Tigers were keen to increase their lead in the second half. The second goal came in the 53rd minute as a
Louis Instrall (London, England / Hampton School) corner was converted by senior
Tom Whitwell (Warwick, England / Repton School) who leaped above the oncoming defenders to score his first goal of the season. Instrall had his 7th assist of the season soon after, as the set-piece monsters scored from yet another corner, with
Mark Donnelly's (Belfast, Ireland / St. Malachy's College ) front post header making it 3-0.
A successful regular season was nicely capped off as
Alex Baltov (Shreveport, La. / Caddo Parish Magnet) cut in from the right hand side to score against his hometown team and secure the four goal win for the good guys. With this win, head coach
Paul McGinlay now has the fifth highest career wins in NCAA DIII history, with a total of 567.
Up Next
The Tigers head back to Houston next weekend to face Southwestern University in the SCAC Championship Semi-Finals at the SaberCats Stadium on Friday at 8:00pm. The winner of this game will face either Colorado College or St. Thomas (TX) in the conference final next Sunday at 2:00pm.
