No. 13 Tiger Men's Soccer eyes SCAC Championship
Last weekend, the Tigers (15-0-3, 10-0-1 SCAC) won 7-0 against Ozarks and 4-0 against Centenary College.
Luke Mayfield (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) scored the opening goal on senior night with a beautiful header in the opening ten minutes.
Louis Instrall (London England / Hampton School) then pounced on a poor touch in the Ozarks box to slot home the second of the game.
JonConnor Rule (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) notched his fourth goal of the season after a looping cross ended up on his head. Not long later,
Samuel Theiss (Boerne, Texas / Boerne) jumped on a hooked cross at the front post to turn home his fourth goal of the season.
Hunter Cain (Katy, Texas / Cinco Ranch) scored his eleventh goal of the season after a great solo run from
Joey Perryman (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound). The sixth goal came only eight minutes later, as
Adam Knutson (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) fired a shot into the bottom left corner. The final goal came after an excellent run by
Daniel Urquidi (Jacksonville Beach, Fla. / Reagan) found himself in the gold zone, cutting the ball back to
Jason Sukow (Jacksonville Beach, Fla. / Reagan) who notched his second of the season.
Knutson scored the game winning goal in the Tigers match against Centenary after a whipped cross from
Will Powell (London, England / Beth's Grammar School) landed at his feet in the six yard box.
Tom Whitwell (Warwick, England / Repton School) headed home his first goal of the season after a superb corner from
Instrall. The Tigers third goal came from another corner after
Mark Donnelly (Belfast, Ireland / St. Malachy's College) connected at the front post. Louisiana native
Alex Baltov (Shreveport, La. / Caddo Parish Magnet) scored the Tigers final goal against his hometown team to finish off Centenary College. Trinity ends the regular season as Conference co-champions with Colorado College in the SCAC.
SCAC Defensive Player of the Week - Tom Whitwell
For the second time in his career,
Tom Whitwell has been selected as the SCAC Defensive Player of the Week.
From the SCAC Press Release:
Whitwell led the 13th-ranked Trinity men's soccer team to a pair of home wins to close out the regular season this past weekend, clinching a share of the SCAC Regular Season Championship. Whitwell and the Tiger defense recorded a pair of shutouts and allowed just three total shots over 180 minutes. Whitwell also came forward early in the second half to knock in a goal that put Trinity ahead 2-0 at the time. That goal was the first of the season for the senior defender.
Key Stats - Offense and Defense
- The Tigers are ranked 8th by the NCAA in scoring offense, with 3.31 goals per game.
- The Tigers are also ranked 6th by the NCAA in team goals against average, with .500 goals per game.
- Trinity are the only team to be ranked in the top 10 for both scoring offense and goals against average.
Preview- SCAC Tournament
This weekend, the Tigers will play in the tournament as the second-ranked seed and will compete in the semifinal against the Southwestern Pirates on Friday, November 8th at 8:00 PM. If the Tigers were to win the match, they would play against the winner of the Colorado College/St. Thomas match for the championship.
On the Southwestern Pirates: The Pirates bring a record of 11-2-4 to the SCAC championship. With recent wins over Concordia and McMurry, the Pirates secured their spot as the third seed in the SCAC tournament. In their last match this year, the Tigers defeated the Pirates 2-1 in the regular season, bringing their all time record to 41-6-1 against the Pirates and (3-0-1 SCAC Tournament).
Looking ahead
If the Tigers were to take home the SCAC Title, they would collect an automatic bid to the NCAA III Playoffs on November 15th and 16th. If not, the Tigers will hope to gain an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
