(SALISBURY, Md. – November 11, 2005) – Sophomore Craig Moquin (Breinigsville, Pa.) scored his first goal of the season as the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Eastern University in an NCAA Division III Championship First Round game played on Friday at Sea Gull Field on the campus of Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md. With the victory, the Ducks (15-3-2) have now won 13 straight games as they advance to the Second Round to face Salisbury (17-2-1) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The winner of that game will advance to the Sweet 16. Stevens, which is making its fourth trip to the NCAA tourney, has reached the Sweet 16 in each of the past two seasons. Salisbury, which knocked off City College of New York by a final score of 5-0 on Friday, was a national semifinalist in 2004.
In the win over Eastern (16-2-2), Moquin staked the 21st-ranked Ducks to an early lead at the 2:13 mark of the first half. On the play, sophomore Mike Kaiser (Roy, Utah) broke in on the left side and feathered a pass by Eagles’ goalkeeper Brandon Ziegler (Lititz, Pa.). Moquin took the feed from Kaiser and poked the ball into an empty net.
Neither team generated much offense during the rest of the first half as they combined for four shots heading into intermission.
In the second half, both offenses produced several good scoring chances. Senior Chris Barsky (Holland, Pa.) nearly converted on a pair of plays for the Ducks in the opening four minutes of the period. On Barsky’s first shot attempt, Ziegler made a nice diving save. Barsky also rocketed a shot from the left wing that went just high moments later.
Eastern, which is ranked No. 11 in the nation on the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America regular-season poll, almost scored a goal with 36:50 remaining in the game when senior Jon Ruiz (Lititz, Pa.) blasted a shot from 25 yards out at the top of the box. Stevens’s goalkeeper Chris Celentano (Newton, N.J.) made a nice play on the ball as it redirected on net off Ducks’ defender Spencer Cunningham (Tucson, Ariz.).
With approximately 28 minutes to play, senior Brian Marks (Yardley, Pa.) set up Kaiser for a left-footed shot from 18 yards out that Ziegler make a solid save on. Ziegler also came up huge with 26:25 left on the clock as he made a lunging save off senior Steve Liebezeit’s (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) free-kick from the top left corner of the box.
Eastern put together another good scoring chance with 24 minutes remaining as senior Shane Rineer (Lancaster, Pa.) laced a shot towards the right-side netting off a free kick from 25 yards out. Celentano made a spectacular diving save on the ball to keep the Eagles off the board.
Stevens had one more legitimate opportunity with 16:45 to play in the game as Moquin sent a cross into the middle of the box that Kaiser headed to a streaking Liebezeit, who headed the ball just wide.
The Eagles failed to capitalize in the closing minutes as Ruiz missed a shot wide left off a pass that was sent into the box from the right wing.
In what was a very tightly-contested game, Stevens owned a slim margin in both shots (9-8) and corner kicks (3-2). Ziegler was able to keep the Ducks at bay for the most part as he made six saves in net. Celentano was equal to the task as he recorded three saves while picking up his sixth shutout of the season.
