Box Score York, Pa. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's soccer team played with new found life Wednesday afternoon. St. Mary's second chance fueled an intense determination which resulted in an impressive 2-0 victory in its regular-season finale over the second-best team in the Capital Athletic Conference, York College of Pennsylvania.
Heading into today's match, the Seahawks needed a win and some help. The help came in the form of forfeiture of three conference games by Frostburg State University, including its October 17 overtime win over St. Mary's. The forfeit bumped the Seahawks into a tie for sixth with Marymount (Va.) University. All that was left was for St. Mary's to put in the work on the field.
And the lads, as fifth-year head coach Alun Oliver '04 would say, outworked York on the pitch this afternoon for just the Seahawks' third-ever win over the Green and White. Today's victory snapped a 17-game skid against the Spartans as St. Mary's last triumph over YCP was a 2-0 win on September 25, 1999 at York.
Today's win helped the Seahawks lock the sixth seed in the 2015 CAC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament which begins this Saturday, October 31 with first-round action. St. Mary's will face third-seeded Wesley College on Saturday in the first round. The Seahawks will look to avenge their 3-2 road loss to Wesley from October 24.
Junior forward Zach Fontenot (Middletown, Md./Middletown) landed St. Mary's (7-8-2, 4-4-1 CAC) on the scoreboard first at 12:43. Junior captain Nick Tait (Silver Spring, Md./Sandy Spring Friends School) chested a pass from the middle to Fontenot who finished from the right side into the left corner.
The Seahawks protected the 1-0 lead for the majority of the contest until the final 20 minutes when St. Mary's added an insurance goal at 70:36. This time around, first-year midfielder Juwan Kearson (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School) fed the ball into Fontenot who one-timed a pass to sophomore midfielder Sunny Chhatani (Lima, Peru/Indian Creek [Md.]) for the finish to the left.
Tait's one assist for the game brings his season total to 10, ranking him fifth among the best single-season marks of all-time at St. Mary's. He needs just five more helpers this season to surpass the current single-season record of 14 held by Coach Oliver. Tait has also tallied 40 points this season to rank third on the single-season list.
Shots were even at 12 apiece as St. Mary's posted a 6-4 advantage in the first half and the Spartans notched an 8-6 margin over the final 45 minutes. The Seahawks edged the home team, 5-4, in corner kicks as corners were equal in the second half at four each.
Sophomore goalkeeper Zach Haussler (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) picked up two saves in recording his third shutout of the season and helping the Seahawks register their first win since October 3. Junior Charlie Johnson (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) tallied three stops as YCP saw its eight-game unbeaten streak snapped.
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