Van Zanic
Director of Sports Information
(724) 847-6886
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2008
DISAPPOINTING ENDING, GENEVA FALLS 3-2 IN
NCCAA EAST REGIONALS
Rochester, NY -Geneva′s men′s soccer team saw its season come to an abrupt and all too familiar ending on Saturday as it dropped a 3-2 decision to Roberts Wesleyan in the NCCAA East Regional semi-finals. The Golden Tornadoes, which saw their season end in an identical fashion in 2007, finished with an overall record of 12-7. Geneva finished the 2007 season with a record of 12-7 including a loss to Roberts Wesleyan in the NCCAA regionals.
Geneva arrived in Rochester on Friday night and immediately had to overcome some adversity. Freshman striker Josh Mann came down with a case of appendicitis and was forced into surgery on Saturday. Without one of its starting forwards, Geneva also had to overcome the loss of starting midfield Kenton Burkhart who was lost because of injury. Despite that adversity, Geneva managed to compete with one of the top level NAIA teams in the American Mideast Conference.
The Raiders struck first with a goal in the 10th minute, but it took the Golden Tornadoes only 30 seconds to respond when Bruce Fox flicked a pass from Jake McCracken past the keeper to tie the game.
The Golden Tornadoes took a short-lived lead of their own when Fox scored his second goal of the match in the 55th minute. Much like Geneva earlier in the match, Roberts Wesleyan responded quickly with the tying marker just 15 seconds later. The Raiders got the deciding goal with just ten minutes remaining and were able to hold on in the final minutes.
Roberts Wesleyan will move on to face Mt. Vernon Nazarene next week in the NCCAA regional finals. However, if Mt. Vernon wins the AMC championship on Saturday evening, the Raiders will advance directly to the NCCAA nationals in Florida in three weeks.
"I am very proud of our guys," said head coach Todd Beall. "They worked extremely hard and it′s a frustrating way to end the season. We would′ve loved the chance to get to Florida but we will move on just get better."
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