GREENSBORO, N.C. (December 6, 2008) – After 110 minutes of play, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer team and Messiah College were tied 1-1, and penalty kicks were needed to decide a National Champion. Messiah got three-straight saves from senior goalkeeper Nick Blossey (Waterford, Pa.), and the Falcons converted three of four shots in the shootout to win the 2008 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship. Messiah took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game, but senior captain Jeremy Lippel knotted the score at one with 10:01 left in regulation. It was an amazing game as both teams put forth classic efforts, but on this day it was not meant to be for the Ducks.
Senior JD Binger (Belvidere, Ill.) opened the shootout by sneaking one under sophomore goalkeeper Zach Carr. Blossey, who came into the game just for the shootout, made a great save on a Jason Nachman shot, and sophomore Geoff Pezon (Blandon, Pa.) followed by drilling his attempt in the top-right corner to put Messiah up 2-0. Blossey made another save, and Carr answered when he saved a Josh Sanders (Fleetwood, Pa.) attempt to keep the Ducks alive. Once again, Blossey made a great stop on a Lippel attempt, and sophomore Nick Thompson (Hudson, Ohio) sealed things for Messiah. Carr dove to his left and got a hand on it, but the ball ricocheted into the back of the net.
Unlike Friday's semifinals, it was the Ducks that fell behind early. Less than three minutes in, Messiah took a 1-0 lead after a foul outside the top-right corner of the penalty box. Pezon lofted a nice service deep into the middle of the box, and freshman Danny Thompson (Hudson, Ohio) banged in a beautiful header.
Stevens got its first chance at 36:22 when junior Terrence Johnson controlled a long punt off the foot of Carr, touched to junior captain Todd Sheridan, who took a shot with his left foot that was saved by Jared Clugston (Red Hill, Pa.).
The 12-plus minutes following the Falcons' goal saw the Ducks start to challenge Messiah and generate some chances. Senior Craig Moquin put a nice service deep into the box that Clugston grabbed off of Johnson's head, and Sandberg made a great run down the middle at the 29-minute mark and his shot sailed just wide.
Another Messiah foul allowed a Moquin service deep into the back-right corner of the goalie box, but junior Josh Williams' header went just over the crossbar.
From the 36:22 mark to about 15 minutes to go in the first half of play, Stevens controlled possession and had several very strong runs at the goal. The Falcons countered with some solid chances of their own, but neither team could find net. Both defenses did an excellent job in getting in the oppositions shooting lanes.
With 13 minutes to go in the first, the Ducks again got deep. Johnson recieved a great lead on the right side of the box from Sheridan and was able to beat a defender but could not get a strong angle on the shot, and Clugston made a solid save.
The first half ended with Messiah holding a slight 5-4 edge in shots and a 2-0 advantage in corners.
Stevens threatened early and often in the first five minutes of the second half. The Ducks got an early corner, and a Johnson header went wide across the goal. Senior back Peter Montalvo and sophomore midfielder Bryan De Faria had a nice give-and-go, but Montalvo's cross went untouched across the mouth of the goal.
Messiah controlled the next five minutes getting two corners and a free kick from 19-yards out, but nothing materialized for the Falcons.
Stevens got a strong chance on a free kick from 22-yards away, but Montalvo's service sailed over the crossbar and Messiah maintained its slim 1-0 lead with 30 minutes remaining in the contest.
With a little more than 22 minutes left, the Ducks made two runs, one by Johnson, and one by Lockhart that were both stopped by aggressive play from Clugston. Seconds later, Sheridan and Johnson found themselves on a two-on-one, but Sheridan's touch pass was stopped and cleared by Binger.
The next 10 minutes of action was played in the middle-third of the field as neither team could get much going on the offensive end of the field, but it was clear that Stevens had all the momentum and energy.
With 10:01 left in regulation, the Ducks got another free kick from 30-yards away. Montalvo put a service across the mouth of the goal that was deflected out to Lippel on the left side. He controlled and ripped a laser into the top-right corner of the cage. It was a perfect shot by the senior captain who came up huge for the Ducks when his team needed him most.
Then, with seven minutes left in regulation, a perfect corner off the foot of Lippel was deflected around in the box and a shot landed just over the crossbar on the wrong side of the net. Another corner off of Lippel's foot bounced out to sophomore Nolan Sandberg who fired a shot that sailed just high.
Messiah had an amazing chance after a cross, but Thompson could not get a shot off with Carr on the ground and the score remained tied.
The game moved to overtime as the Ducks ended regulation with an 11-9 edge in shots and probably possessed the ball for more than 60 percent of the game.
The first overtime period really did not have many chances for either team, but Messiah almost ended the game when Pezon controlled in front of the goal with his back turned in the second overtime. The sophomore was able to get a shot off but it hit the left post and rolled to freshman Pete Bednarsky who cleared. Pezon was in poor position and was not able to get much on his shot.
Messiah applied most of the pressure in the overtime periods, but the score remained tied after 110 minutes of play and penalty kicks ended up deciding the National Championship.
Messiah ended the contest with a 15-12 advantage in shots and a 5-3 edge in corners.
Lippel, Johnson, and Sandberg were all named to the All-Tournament Team as the Ducks end their season with a 19-3-4 record with the shootout counting as a loss in the National Championship game.
