Three Bobcats Earn All-CAC Honors

Ryan Russell

Frostburg State men's soccer standout Ryan Russell grabbed the league's highest honor as the Player of the Year for the second-straight season as the 2012 All-Capital Athletic Conference teams were released Thursday.
Russell, who was named the 2011 Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year after leading the league in points (34) and goals (16), earned the honor again this season after finishing first in the league in goals (14), points (39), and assists (11).

The senior forward from Waldorf, Md., is just the third player in conference history to earn the award in consecutive seasons, as Mary Washington's Tony Trepal won it in 1991 and 1992 while Jon Ports of York won in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Joining Russell on the All-CAC first-team are senior midfielder Shawn Baker and junior defender Chris Jones.  Baker joins the first team as a repeat selection from the 2011 All-CAC squad. Baker, a three-year starter for the Bobcats, was second in the conference in points with 21 and third in goals with eight.

Shawn Baker

The Baker and Russell connection posted the league's highest scoring numbers for a team duo combining for an impressive 50 points on the year. The tandem also combined to notch eight game winning goals this season.

Jones was selected to the first team after helping Frostburg post a 1.30 goals against average. The Bobcat defense posted five shutouts of their 12 victories during the season. Jones also contributed on the offensive end this year as he posted four goals and was fourth on the team in points.

Chris Jones

York (Pa.), Mary Washington and Salisbury all joined Frostburg with having three members named to the first team. York took home the Rookie of the Year with freshman defender Matty Martinez while Mary Washington's Jason Kilby was named the 2012 Coach of the Year.


http://www.cacsports.com/sports/msoc/2012-13/releases/2012_All_CAC_MSoc.pdf

FSU Downed by Marywood

Our season came to an end last Wednesday night as we lost to Marywood College 4-1 in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.

Going into the game I wasn't sure how the boys would respond coming off the heartbreaking loss to York. I was hoping we could put the loss behind us and focus on Marywood, but we just came out very flat and didn’t look like the team that gave it everything they had in the CAC semi-finals. We were controlling the ball fairly well in the beginning of the game, but we just never had that look in our eyes and after Marywood scored on their first shot of the game in the 17th minute we knew it was not going to be our night. Marywood would score again towards to end of the half and we would have to try and dig out of a 2-0 hole.

We made a few substitutions at the half to try and instill some life into the boys, but it was more of the same in the second period. With just seven minutes gone Marywood would score two more goals. One on a bad give away off a back pass to the keeper and then a penalty kick one minute later. We finally showed some signs of life after the goals, but it was too little too late. Shawn Baker would get one back for us in the 62^nd minute, but that would be our only tally of the game.

It was not the way we wanted the season to end, but the boys had put so much into the York game that there just wasn't much left for the ECAC's. The disappointment of not advancing to the CAC title game was still weighing on them and their hearts and heads were just not where they needed to be to compete in the ECAC’s. It's a disappointing way to wrap things up, but I am very proud of this team and the season they had. We didn't reach our goal of advancing to the CAC Championship, but we made some great strides towards being a nationally and regionally competitive team and a team that should always be in the talk come CAC playoff time. 

Our season concludes with a 12-3-4 record and ranked #5 by the NSCAA in the South Atlantic Region.

Bobcats Awarded #2 Seed in ECAC South Tournament

After finishing the regular-season with a 12-1-4 record FSU was selected as the No. 2 seed in the 2012 ECAC Division III Men’s South Soccer Championship.  The tournament is an eight-team field with quarterfinal, semifinal and championship rounds.  Former AMCC rival was selected as the No. 1 seed for the tournament.  Frostburg finished the season 12-2-4 after their CAC semi-final loss and ranked 4th in the South Atlantic Region.

In the first-round contests on Wednesday, November 5^th, Penn State Behrend (16-3-0) will host La Roche College at 1:30 p.m. while the second seed Frostburg State (12-2-4) will host No. 7 Marywood University (10-6-3) at 6:00 p.m. in Maryland.  No. 3 Lebanon Valley College (13-5-2) plays Neumann University at 2:00 PM. at Lebanon Valley and Penn State Abington (12-4-0) will take on Alvernia University (11-7-3) at 7:30 p.m. in the No. 4/No. 5 match-up at Alvernia.

The first-round winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, November 10^th at the site of the highest remaining seed.  The winner of Penn State Behrend/La Roche will face the winner of Penn State Abington/Alvernia in one semifinal, and the winner of Frostburg State/Marywood will play the winner of Lebanon Valley/Neumann in the other semifinal.  The semifinal winners will play Sunday, November 11^th for the championship.

2012 ECAC Division III South Men’s Soccer Championship

First Round – Wednesday, November 5^th

No. 8 La Roche College (8-8-0) at No. 1 Penn State Behrend (16-3-0), 1:30 p.m.

No. 7 Marywood University (12-6-3) at No. 2 Frostburg State Univ. (12-2-4), 6:00 p.m.

No. 6 Neumann University (12-8) at No. 3 Lebanon Valley College (13-5-2), 2:00 p.m.

No. 4 Penn State Abington (12-4-0) at No. 5 Alvernia University (11-7-3), 7:30 p.m.

Semifinals – Saturday November 10^th at highest remaining seed

PSU Behrend/La Roche winner vs. PSU Abington/Alvernia winner, 11:00 a.m.

Frostburg State/Marywood winner vs. Lebanon Valley/Neumann winner, 1:30 p.m.

Championship – Sunday, November 11^th

Two Semifinal Winners, 1:00 p.m.

Bobcats Eliminated from Playoffs

Thursday night saw our hopes of competing for the CAC Championship come to an end. In a wild semi-final match-up against York College we lost 4-3 in double overtime.

The game started out with some very physical play as Ryan Russell was taken down the first five times he touched the ball. York would pick up 3 yellow cards on 3 successive fouls on Russell. Michael Cronauer scored what we thought was the first goal of the game when he headed in a short corner from Russell. To everyone except the official and the linesman it looked like the ball had crossed the line and had hit the back part of the net before the goalie was able to reach back and throw the ball back out of the goal. The game tape would show what we had initially thought and that the ball had crossed the line, but unfortunately we would have to live with the referee's decision and try and get our heads back into the game.

We would fall behind 2-0 before Chris Jones would re-direct a free kick past the York keeper with just minutes remaining in the half. York would open up a 3-1 lead, but after Pablo Torrano was thrown to the ground during a fight for the ball on a free kick, a penalty kick was awarded. Shawn Baker would step up an convert his 4th penalty kick of the season. With under a minute to go we were awarded another free kick and with everyone pushed forward including the goalkeeper, Pablo Torrano found a way to get his head on it and directed it into the side of the goal for a dramatic come from behind last second tie.

The referee once again was unsure of the goal and would have to ask the linesman for help again, but this time the goal was awarded. York would score the heartbreaking game winner three minutes into the second overtime. The heart and resiliency that the boys showed in coming back in a game of this nature goes a long way towards describing the character of this team. I was very proud of the way that they kept fighting and never quit despite being down or feeling like the referee was against them.

We will now have to wait and see where we get seeded for the ECAC Tournament as we do not expect to receive an at-large-bid to the NCAA Tournament.