With last Sunday's dominant win over Oglethorpe, Centre Men's Soccer put itself in the driver's seat to lock up the final spot in the SAA Tournament. The Colonels went into Saturday's regular season finale at Sewanee looking for a result that would seal the deal. They took a big step towards the postseason by picking up a point in a scoreless draw.
Sewanee controlled the early action and nearly had a lead in the 18th minute. A ball heading towards the net had to be cleared away by the Centre back line to keep it out. A following attempt for the Tigers sailed over the bar and out. The Colonels countered with a near-lead of their own. In the 21st minute,
Jacob Tyler fired a shot on goal that beat the Sewanee keeper but clanged off the left post and away from the net.
Martin Cortez got another start in goal for the Colonels and recorded his first save in the 23rd minute as the see-saw battle continued midway through the half.
Amit Shahar went for the Sewanee goal just over 2 minutes later, but his rising shot just sailed high. The big moment of the half came in the 37th minute. Centre's
Luis Portillo was whistled for a foul in the Centre box, giving Sewanee a penalty kick. Cortez picked up his teammate with perhaps the biggest save of the season to deny the Tigers on the PK and keep the game scoreless. An ensuing corner kick and shot came, but Cortez was there again as the game remained 0-0 at halftime.
The opening 10 minutes of the 2nd half proved an exchange of runs and brief flirtations with shots but nothing materialized. Cortez tallied another save in the 57th minute on a shot directly at him. Centre fought back with corners in the 64th and 65th minutes but could not build up to a quality look on goal. It was the last viable push from the Centre offense. Sewanee got 2 more shots on goal but Cortez was there for routine saves to seal the point in the draw.
Martin Cortez finished the night with 6 saves, including the big PK stop. Centre was able to escape with a point despite no official shots on goal, despite Tyler's ball off the post.
With the result, Centre finishes the regular season tied with Rhodes for the final spot at 5 points. Thanks to a tiebreaker, the Colonels were able to earn the last spot in the SAA Tournament that starts next Thursday in Georgetown, TX, with Southwestern serving as host.
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