After pulling out a scoreless draw against Sewanee to clinch a spot in the SAA Tournament, Centre Men's Soccer got an immediate rematch with the Tigers and took the next step by upsetting the 3-seed with a 2-0 win to advance to Friday's SAA Semifinals.
The Colonels struck early as
Jason Weisheit took a perfect pass from
AJ Daniels for a flick to the back of the net to take the early 1-0 lead over the Tigers in the 11th minute. Sewanee looked for the tie in the 14th minute, but
Martin Cortez was there for the Colonels in net to make the save. He stopped 6 shots in the tie last week and that confidence carried into tonight's game. He turned aside another in the 22nd minute then got help from teammates just 35 seconds later to deny Sewanee the leveling score. Centre took the ball and went away on a counter.
Amit Shahar went for a shot to the upper corner in that 23rd minute, but a leaping stop from the Sewanee keeper sent the ball away. Shahar fired again in the 30th minute but was also turned away. The Colonels were able to settle the game down and take a 1-0 lead to halftime.
The action picked up immediately in the 2nd half as Cortez had to make a stop in the opening seconds as Sewanee tried to catch the Colonels by surprise. Another Centre team save in the 51st minute again denied the Tigers the tie. The physicality picked up in the half along with scoring chances as each side was whistled for fouls and a few yellow cards. Sewanee was trying to get back into the game and Centre was trying to deny it. Cortez continued to stand on his head in the half, adding to the Sewanee frustration. Centre withstood the threats and was able to deliver the dagger. In the final minute,
Jason Weisheit flicked a ball down the right side of the pitch and tracked down into the Sewanee box. A crossing ball found
Luca Andrews, who tapped it into the wide open net to seal the upset.
It was deja vu for
Martin Cortez in net as he put up another 6-save performance to carry Centre to the win. Centre now gets set to take on host Southwestern with a spot in the title game on the line. Kickoff from Georgetown, TX is set for 7:00pm and can be viewed by clicking
here.
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