CEDARVILLE, Ohio - On Friday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference opened its first-ever Men’s Soccer Conference Championship at Cedarville University, featuring the semifinal match between #3 seed Trevecca Nazarene University and #2 seed Cedarville University.
In the first half, freshman Christian Alexander gave the Yellow Jackets an early lead on a pass from senior Ryan Thurman in the third minutes. Then late in the half with just 30 seconds left on the clock before the break, Cedarville posted a critical second goal as Zachary Harris scored off a touch pass from Daniel Rigby.
The goal was so important, because in the first half Cedarville had a strong wind at its back, something Trevecca would look take advantage of to tie the game up in the second half.
With the wind at their back, Trevecca increased its pressure to cut the lead down to one goal with just over 24 minutes left as sophomore Bruno De Moraes was able to get control of a loose ball in the box and deflected his shot off the Yellow Jackets keeper.
Just four minutes later, Cedarville seemed to secure the win, regaining the two goal advantage as junior Zack Gatlin took the ball from 30-yards out and slid the ball past the keeper. However, with less than 20 minutes left and holding a 3-1 lead, TNU refused to give up scoring with ten minutes on the clock, as junior Jonathan Baskin assisted on sophomore Ryan Walls goal from a set piece in which Walls found a rebound and put the ball into the net, giving the Trojans a shot and pushing the game into extra time.
As the last few minutes rolled off the clock, TNU pressured but was unable to get a scoring chance and Cedarville’s defense, led by G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year, senior Steve Ellis, CU closed out the game and advanced to the G-MAC Men’s Soccer Finals against top seed Urbana University.
LIVE STREAMING AND STATS FOR G-MAC FINALS: Live streaming of all games, courtesy of Cedarville, can be viewed at G-MACsports.com. You can access the broadcast portal (contains live stats as well) by clicking on the Live Streaming button on the main page, or the Live Broadcast link under the Multimedia tab in the main drop down menu
FINALS PREVIEW: With an undefeated regular-season, Urbana University (9-7-1 overall and 3-0-0 conference) earned the top seed and the automatic bye into the finals on Saturday. Cedarville will look to rebound from a regular-season loss to Urbana, 2-0 on the road to UU.
In the first game, Tyler Wason and Mark Whittle scored for Urbana but the game was highlighted by its defense, which produced six shutout wins - including all three of their G-MAC wins.
Coming into the tournament, Cedarville seems to be peaking at the right time winning 7 of its last 8 games, now eight of its last nine after topping Trevecca in the semifinals. Urbana is 3-5 over its last eight, though has won two of its last three with the Blue Knights only loss coming against ranked Saginaw Valley State University.
The G-MAC leading scorer Tyler Wason (Urbana), 11 goals and 26 points, will face off against the Steve Ellis (Defensive Player of the Year) led defense. Cedarville’s scoring on the other hand is much more balanced, led by Justin Santoro’s five goals, who often comes off the bench.
A case can be made for either team to win the first-ever Men’s Soccer Championship, as Urbana is the undefeated top seed, but Cedarville has the home field advantage. Urbana is fresh, not playing since Oct. 28, while Cedarville will play its fourth third game in eight days.