College Soccer - Spring games of note

Some notes on a few college games of note from this spring including notes on the Santa Clara trip to Japan and a big Wake-Duke ACC clash.

Indiana 2 Notre Dame 0
Although the winter weather is making a late appearance in the year, a key spring win for the Hoosiers soccer team couldn't have come sooner. Overcoming sleet, wind and freezing temperatures, IU pulled out a 2-0 victory this weekend against in-state rival Notre Dame.

Both goals were scored by sophomore forward Kevin Noschang, one off an assist by freshman forward Darren Yeagle and the second off an assist by sophomore midfielder Doug Reisinger. Freshman midfielder Eric Alexander and sophomore midfielder John Mellencamp led the team in shots with three each. The Hoosiers outshot Notre Dame 15-6 on the night, due to both organized offense and a tight defense.  "We've been working on both sides of the ball (during practice)," said IU coach Mike Freitag. "We defended well (Saturday), and we moved the ball well, too."

Noschang's strong performance was key for the Hoosiers. From the very beginning, Noschang had high hopes for the evening.   "We wanted to come out and get a win," Noschang said. "We wanted to make a statement, and I think we did tonight."  The game was not played in ideal conditions. During the game, it began to sleet, which worsened an already wet pitch. The grass in Indianapolis' Kuntz Stadium was also longer than what is typical on a soccer field.  Still, that didn't deter the cream and crimson.   "I think we were focused," Freitag said. "We dealt with the elements well, like the wind, the sleet and the field."

Freshman defender Ofori Sarkodie attributes this focus to the growing chemistry of the team.   "We made some big strides as a team," Sarkodie said. "We had organized defense, we attacked the ball as a team and we did well communicating."

Notre Dame's biggest threat, Joseph Lapira, made only a short appearance in the game because he is still recovering from a recent surgery. The M.A.C. Hermann trophy winner, soccer's version of the Heisman Trophy winner, did not start and only played half the game as a substitute. His only shot of the night was blocked by Sarkodie.

New Mexico 2 Colorado Rapids Reserves 0
The University of New Mexico men's soccer team posted an impressive 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer today. Freshman PJ Wilson scored both goals in the match. The contest was played at 10:00 a.m. (M.D.T.) at the newly opened Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver, Colo.  The Rapids played most of their reserves since they started their MLS season last Saturday with a 2-1 win over DC United and have another match this weekend. However, Pablo Mastroeni, Zach Thornton and Jose Cancela were some of the more well-known players who saw the field for Colorado.

"It wasn't their starters, but it was against a team full of professional players," stated UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein  "Anytime we can get a positive result in that situation is good. There were some big names playing so it was exciting for our guys to compete at that level. Having P.J. score those goals will help him to continue to gain confidence going into the fall. It was good for our program because we got to play a lot of guys in a game situation," added Fishbein. "However, from a pride standpoint, you always want to win the game."

Wake Forest 1 Duke 1
The Wake Forest men's soccer team rallied back from a 1-0 deficit to draw with the visiting Duke Blue Devils on Friday night in a spring exhibition match between the ACC rivals.  With the tie, the Deacs moved to 1-1-1 on the spring season.  Duke got on the board first in the closing minutes of the first half.  Graham Dugoni volleyed home a cross from Joshua Bienenfeld past Deacon goalie Brian Edwards  to go ahead 1-0.  The Deacons were able to equalize 11 minutes into the second half.  Sophomore Sam Cronin found freshman Zack Schilawski making a diagonal run through the Duke back line.  Cronin put the ball on his foot and Schilawski was in alone with the Blue Devil goalie.  The Cary, N.C., native made no mistake with the shot and fired the ball past Brendan Fitzgerald to tie the game.  Wake had a chance for the game winner near the end of the game, but Schilawski's header went wide.

Santa Clara notes from Japan trip
The Santa Clara men's soccer team is in the midst of its spring break trip to Japan. The team arrived on Sunday, March 25 in Toyko and then traveled to Momoyama, where they stayed at Momoyama Gakuin University. The team has played four games so far in a split squad format, playing Kansai University twice and Saint Andrew's twice. The team posted a 1-2-1 record in those games.

On Tuesday, SCU lost one of the games to Kansai University 3-0 and won the second 2-1. Kansai was a national semifinalist last year. Both Santa Clara and Kansai split their teams into two groups for the games. In the second game, freshmen Ryan Brown and Kellen Wantulok scored for the Broncos.

"Kansai's two teams were very technical and well-organized," said head coach Cameron Rast.  "We had some good chances in the first game that we could not finish, but they played well. We got down in the second game, but we battled back.  Brian Martin had an excellent game and helped bring us back."

The next day, the Broncos had two more games, this time against St. Andrew's. The team opened with a 2-2 draw in game one with Wantulok netting his second goal in two days. With the team trailing 2-1, freshman Ross Smith scored on a corner kick to equalize. SCU fell 4-0 in game two.  "We had a very strong first game on Wednesday," said Rast. "It was a physical game, but we matched them all the way. It was nice to see us come back and earn the tie at the end. We got down early in game two and could not overcome the deficit, and some players went down with injuries that left us shorthanded.  Scott Sweeney had an impressive day though and gave us a lift."