Rose-Hulman Earns First HCAC Men's Soccer Title
November 2, 2008
GREENWOOD , IN - The Rose-Hulman men's soccer program earned the outright HCAC Championship for the first time and secured the top seed for the conference tournament. The top-seed Engineers will tangle with No. 4 Hanover in one semifinal, while the second seeded Pioneers of Transylvania will host No. 3 Manchester in the second semifinal.
Rose clinched the top seed with a 5-0 victory over Defiance on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Will Terrill (Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio / Christian Academy ) scored two of the team's five goals to secure the conference title. The Engineers finished the regular season with a 12-4-3 overall record and a 7-0-1 mark in conference play.
Rose-Hulman will face Hanover at 3:00 PM Wednesday afternoon in the semifinals. The Engineers pulled out a 1-0 win over the Panthers back on September 28. Freshman midfielder Clint Vatterrodt (Bloomington , Ill. /University) scored the game's only goal in the 74 th minute to give the host Engineers the win. Hanover finished the season 6-11-1 overall and 5-3 in conference action.
Transylvania (10-5-1, 6-2 HCAC) and Manchester (9-9-2, 6-2 HCAC) will meet on the same field where the Pioneers earned a 3-2 win back on September 27. The host Pioneers scored two goals in the first half and held a 3-1 lead after Zach Lange (Florence , Ky. /St. Henry) scored a goal in the 66 th minute. Action between the Pioneers and Spartans in Lexington will get underway at 2:00 PM Wednesday.
The winner of the conference tournament will earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III tournament that is slated to begin on November 12. The highest remaining seed after the two semi-finals will host the conference tournament final at 1:00 PM Saturday.