Rochester, NY — The Messiah men's soccer team is up to its old magic.
It must be NCAA Tournament time.
Sophomore Geoff Pezon scored on a breakaway midway through the first sudden death overtime as Messiah — ranked eighth in the latest NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 Poll — edged Medaille College by a 2-1 score in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships at Edwin Fauver Stadium Saturday night.
The Falcons move into the second round against host University of Rochester, as the Yellowjackets — ranked 10th in nation — defeated Castleton State College, 2-0, in the first game of the double-header. Sunday's game (set for a 6 p.m. kick-off) will feature a rematch of last season's 'Sweet 16' match-up between the squads, as Messiah defeated Rochester by a 6-0 score at Shoemaker Field.
Saturday night on a calm, comfortable evening, Pezon figured in both of Messiah's goals. Fouled in the penalty area with less than 17 minutes to play, the agile midfielder drew only the team's second penalty kick of the season. Head coach Dave Brandt called on sophomore Nick Thompson, who converted the freebie to equalize things at the 73:39 mark.
Two minutes into the overtime period, Messiah had three shots in one sequence after a corner kick, only for the Medaille defense to come up big. The ball was played to the back post where Thompson's shot was blocked. Senior JD Binger unleashed an eight-yarder which was cleared off the line by Mavericks' defender Kendell McFayden and the third shot —by Binger — was put over the crossbar.
Three minutes later, the Falcons booked their spot in the next round. With the Medaille defense creeping forward, Pezon and senior Josh Sanders sprang the other direction. Sanders ran back to the pack. Pezon kept going with the ball, and Medaille goalkeeper Ryan Goettel ran straight at him. Pezon moved wide of Goettel and scored into an open net from 12 yards away at 95:01, setting off a wild celebration on the far sideline.
“When I looked up, (Sanders) was right there,” Pezon said. “I was afraid he might be called offside. When he ran by me, I ran as fast as I could (forward). I got past the goalkeeper and a lot of things went through my head.”
He wanted to be sure of the shot – and he was. The Falcons applied a steady dose of pressure to the Medaille defense which — for much of the evening — proved up to the challenge.
“They come at you 110 percent for 90 minutes,” said Medaille head coach Daniel Krzyzanowicz. “We were packed in because they possessed the ball so much.”
Messiah used its wings (freshman Kent Ramirez on the left side and classmate Derek Black on the right flank) to good advantage. “When you make the other team defend the full width of the field, it will eventually leave an opening,” said Brandt. “They're always going to protect the middle first.”
“Medaille's a very good team,” he continued. “They are very athletic and very difficult to break down. McFayden's just outstanding. He's a great player.”
McFayden was a forward for two years and one of the top scorers for the Mavericks. “He made a big team move for us by going to defense,” said Krzyzanowicz. “I thought he was the best player on the field tonight. He came to play.”
Medaille took a very early lead, knocking home a goal before the match was two minutes old. Following a free kick from near midfield, Mavericks' forward Alexander Rouse moved to the top of the circle. Receving the ball, he unleashed a right-footed blast that slammed off the right post. With Messiah junior goalkeeper Jared Clugston diving in an effort to thwart the attempt, the rebound came back to Rouse at nearly the same spot from which he shot. As Clugston lie on the ground, Rouse slotted the ball into the lower left hand corner of an empty net at 1:57.
“It was a big uplift for us,” Krzyzanowicz admitted. “One of our goals coming in was to get up early on these guys.”
That early? The goal even caught Brandt off-stride. “(Falling behind that quickly) was not our plan,” he said. “In several ways, we did not do what we were supposed to do, so we paid for it.”
As has become its trademark over the years, Messiah (17-2-2) kept pushing forward. Ramirez out-foxed a defender on the left end line and crossed the ball into the middle at the midway point of the first half, only for Goettel to punch it away at the last moment. With less than six minutes left in the opening half, a long free kick down the middle of the pitch found Binger for a header which Goettel sprawled at the right post to secure.
The Mavericks' keeper was put to the test again at the midway point of the second half when he dove and forced Pezon to shoot just wide of the right post from the edge of the penalty area.
The game-tying penalty kick was awarded after Pezon was pulled down two yards inside the box by Mavericks' defender Eric Schnirel. “One of our wings played me the ball, and as I moved, the defender took me out and I got the penalty,” Pezon said.
The Falcons then had a pair of quality opportunities to end things in regulation, as a blast from freshman Danny Thompson caught both the crossbar — and an outstretched glove of Goettel's — with just under a minute remaining. Messiah scurried to get off its third corner kick of the period, but could not come up with a clean shot on goal.
“Our chances got increasingly better as the game went on,” said Brad McCarty, Messiah assistant coach. “I thought that, in the second half, our ball movement and offensive pressure wore them down. That allowed us to keep the ball in their half of the field for the majority, and it became easier to turn and get behind them.”
The game statistics reflected as much, as Messiah out-shot Medaille (13-6-2) by a cumulative 13-3 difference in the second half and overtime after trading five shots apiece in the first 45 minutes. Foul totals also reflected the change in game control, as Medaille banged the Falcons around 11 times in the first period, only for Messiah to record 12 fouls to the Mavericks' six after halftime.
“Medaille is a big, athletic team that is very aggressive,” McCarty said. “They went at us very hard. They were good in the air and they made things tough on us. It was what we expected to a large degree.”
In the end, it was one of the smallest players on the field which Medaille did not have an answer for, as Pezon's game-winner was a thing of absolute beauty — both athletically and mentally. As he touched the ball around an outstretched Goettel, time seemed to move slower. Pezon's shot — which took only nano-seconds to find the back of the net — seemingly rolled along at a snail's pace.
“It was really a smart play from both Geoff and Josh,” McCarty said. “But I think we all showed some strength and resilience to not give in tonight. To give up a goal in the first two minutes is a major mistake that could have ended our season. You have to credit our guys for making sure that did not happen.”
Messiah must now take on both Rochester (14-2-2) and the elements Sunday, as the forecast calls for stiff winds, snow showers and wind chills in the 20's.
“They are a high level team and are very dangerous on set plays,” McCarty said of the Yellowjackets. “They're comfortable in their home environment and it sounds like the weather could play a factor.”
The second half of Sunday's game will be broadcast live on 90.7 FM WVMM, as well as on the World Wide Web at WVMM.org. The station will broadcast Messiah's women's soccer second-round game against Washington & Jefferson College before switching over to the men's game. That contest is slated for a 5 p.m. start at Shoemaker Field.
Portions of this release were provided by the University of Rochester office of sports information.
