Wilmington College to host NCAA Sectionals

Quakers face Wartburg on Friday, November 19

November 14, 2004

WILMINGTON ­ Wilmington College has been designated as one of four NCAA Division III Men¹s Soccer Sectional sites, as Wartburg (Iowa), Allegheny and Messiah will all travel to Wilmington, Ohio for the "Sweet 16" match-up. On Friday the Quakers will face off against Wartburg while Allegheny takes the pitch against Messiah. The Messiah/Allegheny game will kick off at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time while Wilmington/Wartburg will kick off 30 minutes following the completion of the first contest.

Wartburg (19-1-2) advanced to the round of 16 with a 1-0 victory over sixth ranked Calvin College on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Forward Scott Hill scored his seventh goal of the season just over a minute into the second overtime, giving the Knights the upset victory. Brent Schuchman dished out his second assist of the year in the game, while goalkeeper Collin Lane picked up his eighth shutout of the year, stopping five shots in 101:20 of action in the game.

The Wartburg offense, ranked second in Division III in goals per game, is led by high-scoring forward Verne Houston, who has scored 28 goals in 21 games on the year, the 13th best season in Division III history, while his 76 career goals ranks him in a tie 13th in Division III history. Harrison Kibombo-Lugujjo has scored 17 goals while Scott Hill and Casey Johnson have each scored seven. Kirk Artist has dished out 12 assists to lead the team while Hill has dished out nine.

Leading the defense is goalkeeper Lane, who has allowed nine goals in just under 1600 minutes of action for a goals against average of 0.51 to go with his seven shutouts. Ian MacNaughton has seen action in 11 games, stopping 16 shots while allowing two goals for a goals against average of 0.41.Overall, the Knight¹s have shut out 14 of their 22 opponents for a team goals against average of 0.49.

This is the second NCAA Tournament appearance for Wartburg in their program¹s history, with their first appearance coming in 2003, when they were defeated 0-0 in a penalty kick shootout against Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.).

The Quakers advance to this point in their season with a 2-0 victory over Division III powerhouse Wheaton (Ill.) coached by the legend Joe Bean, who has recorded 575 wins in his 43 years of coaching. The Green and White got a goal in the game¹s 38th minute when Chad Garman scored his 13th goal of the year on a double assist from Alex Van der Sluijs and Phil Walter. The final score of the contest came with 10 seconds left on the clock when Alex Van der Sluijs took advantage when the Wheaton goalkeeper moved up on the attack and shot the ball into an empty net, taking the pass from his brother Derek Van der Sluijs.

Junior goalkeeper Justin Saylor recorded his fourth consecutive shutout, stopping four shots in the game for his seventh individual shutout of the year.

On the year the team is led by Garman¹s 13 goals while Alex Van der Sluijs, the younger of the brothers, has scored 10 goals. Phil Walter has nine goals on the year while David Benedict has added seven. The younger Van der Sluijs leads the team with 10 assists while Garman has seven and Walter and Benedict each have four.

Saylor has been in goal for 1564 minutes on the season, sporting a goals against average of 0.75, stopping 65 shots and picking up seven shutouts. Brandon Bernhardt has a 1.20 goals against average in just under 375 minutes, picking up a pair of shutouts and stopping 14 shots.

Allegheny (10-7-4) advances to the "Sweet 16" with three straight penalty kick shootouts, the first in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship game, and the last two in the NCAA Tournament, picking up wins over Transylvania in the first round and Carnegie Mellon on Saturday.

In the Carnegie Mellon victory, the Gators got the first goal of the game, their first in over 230 minutes, just four minutes into the game when Josh Johnson scored on a double assist. Carnegie Mellon provided the equalizer just over five minutes later, with 11:25 gone in the game. The teams played scoreless soccer for the next 78 minutes through regulation and the two ten-minute overtime periods. In the shootout period, the Gators connected on four of their five attempts while Carnegie Mellon was only able to convert three, giving the victory to the host Allegheny.

On the season, Allegheny is led by Johnson, who has 11 goals and six assists, both team highs. Ben Montgomery, Jason Figura and Chris Fedele have each scored four goals for the Gators, who have only out-scored their opponents by a combined eight goals on the season, 32-24.

The NCAC Tournament Champions ended the regular season in fourth place, but defeated 20th ranked Wooster and Denison to advance into the NCAA Tournament, the first in their program¹s history.

Messiah advances to this weekend¹s games with a 5-0 victory over Westminster. In the game, the Falcons (19-2) tallied just one first-half goal, the first of which came 37 minutes into the game when Aaron Casper put a rebounded shot past the Westminster keeper. Messiah needed just two minutes into the second half to find the back of the net again when Bryan Mahney took an assist from David McClellan and headed the ball into the back of the net, giving the Falcons the 2-0 advantage. MeClellan, Kieran Keelan and Casper each found the back of the net in the last 30 minutes of the game, giving Messiah the 5-0 win.

McClellan is the team¹s leading scorer with 21 goals in 21 games. Kai Kasiguran and Kieran Keelan have put in eight goals each while Seth Lehman, Tim Stello and Bryan Mohney each have seven scores on the year.

Defensively the squad is led by Dustin Shambach, who has a goals against average of 0.35 and has stopped 34 shots in recording nine shutouts on the season.

Messiah, who earned one of three Pool C bids, had a 14-game win streak snapped in their conference tournament championship game. They come into this weekend ranked ninth in the November 9 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll, while Wilmington sits at 13th.

This NCAA berth for the Falcons is their eighth consecutive appearance and the 16th overall. The team won the NCAA Division III Men¹s Soccer National Championship in 2000 and 2002.