Frostburg State has been selected for the ECAC Championships and has been awarded the #2 seed.  Swarthmore College has been awarded the #1 seed and will host the four team final four on the weekend if they advance from the first round.

We will host Washington and Jefferson College on Wednesday night at 7pm.  We have already played W&J this year at home and escaped with a narrow 3-2 victory after scoring the winning goal in the closing seconds.

Here is the rest of the bracket:

First Round – Wednesday, Nov. 13

East Region 
Penn State Abington (10-4-3) at Swarthmore (9-5-4), 7:00 PM
Muhlenberg (9-7-1) at Marywood (13-3-2), 5:00 PM

West Region
Washington & Jefferson (10-6-3) at Frostburg State (12-6-0), 7:00 PM
Lebanon Valley (10-7-3) at Juniata (13-6-2), 2:00 PM

Semifinals – Saturday, Nov. 16th at Highest Remaining Seed

 At the conclusion of the quarterfinals teams will be reseeded based on the below overall regional seeds. The highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed.

1. Swarthmore College	5. Lebanon Valley College
2. Frostburg State University	6. Juniata College
3. Marywood University	7. Muhlenberg College
4. Penn State Abington	8. Washing & Jefferson College

Championship – Sunday, November 17th at Highest Remaining Seed
Two Semifinal Winners, TBD

FSU Eliminated from CAC Playoffs

The title run for 13 seniors ended on Wednesday as were defeated by Salisbury 1-0.  This makes the third straight year we advanced to the CAC semi-finals, but have been unable to get to the championship game.

Overall I thought we gave a strong effort.  Salisbury is a good team and was probably the better team on the day, but we played well enough to keep ourselves in the game and had a few opportunities to get on the board.

It was a typical FSU - Salisbury match with a lot of physical play.  Both teams got their share of hits in including five yellow cards and a red card as time expired.  Salisbury was very dangerous on the counter, but our backline held strong and was able to keep the Sea Gulls out of the goal for most of the game. 

With under 10 minutes to play Salisbury was awarded a free kick near the top corner of the box.  As the ball was served everyone attacked the ball and unfortunately the ball got flicked and found its way to an open Salisbury player at the corner of the six yard box.  The Salisbury player shot it back across the goal out of the reach of keeper Hassan Mostafa.

It's tough to see the season come to a close for the seniors.  You always wish you could give them one more game or get them a little further than they got the year before, but unfortunately this will make the third straight elimination in the semi-final round. We have put in for the ECAC Championships so hopefully we'll get the chance to play a few more games and give the senior class a chance to close their season out with a win.

ECAC bids will come out Monday afternoon after the NCAA selections.

Bobcats Advance to CAC Semi-finals

Senior Pablo Torrano

CAC playoffs began Saturday afternoon and we had to make a return trip to the University of Mary Washington.  The game was very similar to the first match as both teams were pretty evenly matched, but this time were able to come away with the narrow 1-0 victory and advance to the CAC semi-finals on Wednesday.

The first half was even as both teams recorded just three shots a piece.  The second half was a little more open as both teams pushed for the go ahead goal.  Pablo Torrano got the game winner early in the 2nd half when he took a feed from Chris Jones that split the defenders and put him in on goal.  Torrano calmly placed the ball to the side of the charging UMW keeper.  Both teams would create 2 or 3 clear scoring opportunities, but would be unable to capitalize on them.

As the game winded down Mary Washington pushed for the equalizer and we pushed for the insurance goal to put the game away.  It would lead to an exciting finish as both teams left it all on the field and in the closing seconds we would clear two rebounds off the goal line to preserve the win and move on to the next round.

Freshman keeper Hassan Mostafa had a very strong game in goal and did a great job of dealing with the flighted balls and the dangerous UMW set pieces.  This was a big win for us as it was a road win on grass against a very good team.  Hopefully the confidence will carry over to the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The semi-finals are set for Wednesday afternoon at 2pm at Salisbury.  Salisbury enters the game with a 16-2 record and the top seed in the playoffs.

Bobcats End Season with Dissappointing Loss

The final season wrapped up Wednesday afternoon with an away match at the #16 nationally ranked York College Spartans.  An early goal and a second tally in the first half was too much for us to overcome as we dropped the season finale 2-1.

The energy around the game was a little odd as both teams were already assured of their playoff spot and pride was the only thing left to play for.  We decided to give freshman Jackson Bicknell his first start of the season in goal to see what he would look like against a tough opponent.  Despite surrendering an early goal Jackson rebounded well and put together a solid performance.

York got on the board with just under 4 minutes played when we failed to track a runner on a through ball and then his pass across the box was run onto by a York player beating the FSU player to the ball.  We sort of fell asleep on the play and put ourselves in hole that we didn't want to be in.  The boys responded well and played a solid first half and created just as many scoring opportunities while actually out shooting York for the half, but surrendered another goal on a similar play later in the half to go down 2-0.

The second half was similar to the first as both teams probably split possession and scoring opportunities.  In true Frostburg fashion we began to push forward and gain momentum and just minutes after Chris Jones fired one off the post he tallied his team leading eighth goal of the season when he calmly placed home a feed from Kyle Walczak deep inside the box.  It was a good finish by the team, but still not the performance we needed to get at least one signature win on the season.  We finish the season 11-5 and the #5 seed in the CAC playoffs.

http://youtu.be/r0JX_DW5c8s - Jones goal     

100%

       

We will be at Mary Washington on Saturday for a 2pm kick-off.  The winner will then face #1 seed Salisbury on Wednesday afternoon.

CAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET

(all games played at higher-seeded team; game times TBA)
  FIRST ROUND SEMIFINALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Sat., Nov. 2 Wed., Nov. 6 Sat., Nov. 9

                                                              at #1 Salisbury

#5 Frostburg State

at #4 Mary Washington
                                                                                                             2013 Champion
  #6 Wesley                                                                                            

at #3 Christopher Newport

                                                            at #2 York 

Mary Washington Scores Twice in the Second Half to Drop the Bobcats

With a road win on Saturday afternoon we would lock up the #4 seed in the CAC playoffs and would face Mary Washington at home this coming Saturday. 

It seemed like fate was against us from the beginning as our charter bus broke down and the replacement bus showed up 2 hours late and forced our game to be pushed back an hour to 4:30pm.  We got off the bus dressed and ready to go and after a brief 15 minute warm up we kicked off.

We were not pretty to start the game and Mary Washington used the momentum to their advantage and carried a good portion of the play.  We held strong and weathered the storm and were able to get to the half tied 0-0.

I actually thought we played better in the second half as we were able to get some possession back and created a few scoring opportunities.  However, there were a few moments in the game when we switched off and left some players free or let ourselves get exposed 1v1 and Mary Washington would capitalize to take the 1-0 lead.  Mary Washington sealed the game with five minutes left as we pushed forward for the equalizer and got countered.

We did not get the job done when we needed to.  Although the travel delays certainly didn't help, I don't think that had anything to do with the outcome of the game.  We need to play with more conviction and impose our style of play on the game and we did not do that on Saturday.

The regular season will wrap up on Wednesday as we travel to York for a 4pm kick-off.  York has locked up the #2 seed in the CAC playoffs.  The loss against Mary Washington now puts us as the #5 seed in the CAC Tournament and we will travel to Fredericksburg, VA to play Mary Washington again this Saturday at 2pm.

Seniors Lead the Way to Shut-out of St. Mary's

It was a special day on Saturday afternoon as we said thank you and goodbye to 13 seniors who would play in their final home game of the season.  Making their final home appearance were two year seniors; Pablo Torrano, Phil Nana, Kunle Akinfeleye, Bernard Fatusin, and Collin Sainz, three year seniors; Jared Fohs and Raphael Adjeoda along with four year seniors; Chris Jones, Drew Hock, Jason Bennett, Alex Brainard, Michael Norman, and Brandon Rodgers.  Three seniors would tally on the day to lift the Bobcats to a 4-0 win over St. Mary's College.

 

Jason Bennett got things started early as he hit a well struck ball passed the St. Mary's keeper after a failed clearance by the St. Mary's defense ended up at his feet just inside the box.

 

http://youtu.be/EKWLwbhgnTM - Bennett goal 

100%

       

We went to the half with a 1-0 lead, but were playing well and did a good job of keeping the St. Mary's offense in check only allowing three shots.  The second half we continued to keep up the pressure and although it took almost 20 minutes, we once again finished strong with three goals in the final 25 minutes.

 

Chris Jones scored his team leading seventh goal of the season as he re-directed a Kyle Walczak corner kick into the net.  Senior Kunle Akinfeleye would put Joe Clarke in for his second goal of the season after he maneuvered around a St. Mary's defender and beat the keeper.  Akinfeleye would net his fourth of the season when fellow classmate Raphael Adjeoda outraced the defender to the ball and found Akinfeleye in front of the goal.

 

http://youtu.be/MS4QVFLRohI - Jones goal

 

http://youtu.be/NWx8_3fL-fA - Clarke goal     

 

http://youtu.be/cIwjOu-icss - Akinfeleye goal 

100%

      

100%

          

100%It was nice to end the regular season with an undefeated home record (8-0) and to send the seniors out with a home shut-out.  All the seniors got in the game including injured goalkeeper Drew Hock who was able to start the match and then was subbed out after the kick-off. 

 

The playoff picture is still uncertain as some teams still have three games to play.  We have a mid week bye this week and will play Mary Washington at 3:30pm on Saturday at UMW.  I believe a win will get us no worse than a #4 seed for the playoffs.  Currently we stand at 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the CAC.

 

 

FSU Rebounds From Slow Start to Score Six

Junior Bryan Lentine

It was not a good game for about 60 minutes, but the boys responded late and finished off Southern Virginia in the second half for a 6-1 win.

We got off to an early start again when Bryan Lentine scored his first collegiate goal from a Kyle Walczak corner kick just seven minutes into the game.

http://youtu.be/m9BsiOdwqPQ - Lentine Goal 


Senior Michael Norman

   

100%

After that we had a let down and quite honestly played some of our worst soccer of the season.  The intensity dropped off, the composure on the ball was lacking, and the ability to string passes together was non-existent.  Southern Virginia did their best to take advantage off our poor performance and created a few scoring opportunities from set pieces and long throw-ins.

The second half was a little more of the same and after some poor defending we surrendered a penalty kick and were tied 1-1.  Fortunately for us the goal did wake us up and sparked a bit more effort in the boys.  Their level of play went up and they decided to finally play some soccer.

Kyle Walczak started the come back when he scored his first goal of the season about midway through the half.  Just three minutes later after a nice overlapping run Michael Norman found Nabayee Tesfu with a nice service in front of the goal for the open header.

http://youtu.be/_nBx0OXfS4M - Walczak goal

http://youtu.be/p7AWMGo6fzs - Tesfu goal 
   

100%

100%

We finished with a flurry again as we tallied three more times in the final eight minutes.  Michael Norman scored his first of the season on a nice half volley that beat the keeper while Brandon Rodgers flicked home a corner kick and Alex Brainard finished off the scoring with a nice strike to beat the keeper from the top of the box.

 

http://youtu.be/tBv-WygP2Zo - Norman goal  

 

http://youtu.be/z2jmSG7XUvc - Rodgers goal     

 

 http://youtu.be/pJrIpsIGypM - Brainard goal 

   

100%

100%We were hoping for a better performance coming off the CNU loss, but we did what we needed to do to get the win.  We will have to be better on Saturday as we prepare to say goodbye to 13 seniors and will need the win against St. Mary's to clinch a playoff berth.