Cazenovia Men’s Soccer Headed to NCAA Tournament

By Brandon Holt, Director of Sports Information

The Cazenovia College men’s soccer team will be competing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after defeating the University of Dallas Crusaders, 2-1, in double overtime to win the 2009 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Championship Sunday afternoon Nov. 8 at Keuka College.

Junior Matt Gillis (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) scored the game-winning goal with 3:34 left in the second overtime off an assist from freshman David Wright (East Islip, NY/East Islip).

The win was the seventh straight for Cazenovia, who improved to 12-6-1 overall and set a program record for wins in a single season in the process. Dallas ends their season at 7-9-3 overall.

The Wildcats broke a scoreless tie in the 74th minute as Gillis found freshman Taras Stashkiv (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) for the goal to give Cazenovia the 1-0 advantage. Just under four minutes later, Dallas’ Ryan Meske scored off an assist from Garrett Johnson to eliminate the Wildcats lead and tie the game up, 1-1. The failure to score by both teams in the first overtime led to Gillis’ game-winning tally.

Junior Ryan Snyder (Dover Plains, NY/Dover Plains) played the entire game in goal for Cazenovia and recorded eight saves.

Cazenovia receives the conference’s automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament and learns of their opponent on Monday when the NCAA releases the bracket detailing times and locations of the contests.

Name:
Email:

Cazenovia Men’s Soccer Headed to NCAA Tournament

M3P Media LLC © 2009