The ninth-ranked Thomas More College women’s soccer team shutout the University of Chicago 1-0 Sunday in a second round match of the NCAA Division III Championship at BB&T Field.
With the win, the Saints improve to 19-0-2 and advance to the sectional semifinals for the second-straight seasons. Thomas More will play Centre College next Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Carnegie Mellon. The winner advances to meet the survivor of the Carnegie Mellon/Calvin contest on Saturday at 1 p.m.
With the loss, the Maroons end the season at 13-7-0.
The Saints scored the lone goal of the match at the 49:41 mark when junior midfielder Erika LaRosa (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) found the back of the net off an assist from sophomore forward Julia Flagge-Echols (Colerain, Ohio/Colerain).
Junior goalkeeper Megan Barton (Florence, Ky./Villa Madonna) earned the shutout win as she played all 90 minutes and had four saves.
Chicago out-shot Thomas More, 13-6, but the Saints owned a 6-4 advantage in shots on-goal.
Ninth-ranked Saints host No. 16 Washington & Lee in playoff game
No. 9 Thomas More College will host No. 16 Washington & Lee University in an NCAA Division III First Round Playoff game on Saturday Nov. 21 at noon at BB&T Field.
Washington & Lee won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs. The Generals posted an undefeated (10-0) regular season for the first-time in program history. Washington & Lee is making its fourth appearance in the NCAA playoffs.
Thomas More College won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) title outright and for the seventh time the Saints have won at-least a share of the conference title since joining the PAC in 2005. The Saints posted an undefeated regular season for the sixth in the program’s 26-year history.
Thomas More is making its seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA playoffs and first since the 2011 season.
Thomas More and Washington & Lee’s only previous meeting on the gridiron was on 2010 when the Saints defeated the Generals 42-14 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
The rest of the field includes three spots for independents and five national at-large bids.
The playoffs begin next Saturday on campus sites with noon local time kickoffs.
The national championship game — the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl will be played Friday, Dec. 18 at Salem Stadium in Salem, Virginia.
Saints’ men’s soccer team falls in first round
The ninth-ranked Thomas More College men’s soccer team fell 3-0 to the University of Chicago Saturday in a first round match of the NCAA Division III Championship at Mavec Field on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
With the loss, the Saints end the season at 16-3-1. With the win, the Maroons improve to 12-5-2 and advance to play Kenyon in a second round match tomorrow at Mavec Field.
Chicago took built an early 2-0 lead as Christoffer Mathias scored at 4:32 and Matthew Koh scored at 6:50. The Maroons closed out the scoring at 78:07 with a team goal for the final score of 3-0.
Freshman midfielder Jeremy Staigl (Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll) and senior forward Bruce Berkay (Lexington, Ky./Paul L. Dunbar) each had a shot-on-goal in the match.
Freshman goalkeeper Jeff Paulin (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart) played all 90 minutes in goal and allowed three goals, while recording five saves.
Chicago out-shot Thomas More 17-5, including 8-2 on-goal, but the Saints won the battle of corner kicks, 3-1.
From TMC Athletics