Freshman Rodrigo Valenzuela |
With a win or a tie we would clinch a playoff berth, but with a win we knew we would have a very good shot a hosting a first round game. Freshman Rodrigo Valenzuela made sure our seniors would get one more game at Bobcat Stadium when he buried a Nabayee Tesfu rebound into the back of the net for the 1-0 win.
I don't think we played as well as we had hoped, but we controlled most of the play and just had too many silly give-a-ways that led to the Southern Virginia chances, especially in the first half.
In the second half we tightened up the defense and held SVA to just three shots while out-shooting them 19-10 on the evening. We created some decent chances including 10 corner kicks, but just couldn't get on the board.
With about 6 minutes remaining we had some nice combination play that led to a Nabayee Tesfu shot. The keeper made the save, but Rodrigo Valenzuela pounced on the loose ball and buried it for the 1-0 win.
Valenzuela Goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMLZCZPZQqw (goal starts at 1:56:25)
We end the season 10-5-3 and in a 3-way tie (5-3-1) for second place in the CAC. After tiebreakers we end up as the #3 seed and will face St. Mary's College on Saturday at 3:30pm at Bobcat Stadium. The boy's are excited to play St. Mary's again as they are one of the teams that defeated us 1-0 during the regular season.
CAC playoff bracket: http://www.cacsports.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/schedule