The Pirates were able to continue their strong SCAC play over the weekend by defeating the University of the South (2-1) and Oglethorpe University (4-1) due to first year forward, Morgan Knobel (College Station, TX) netting two game winning goals, which also ups his goals to three for his rookie season, along with sophomore Fernando Leon (Dallas, TX) dishng out two more assists in the victory versus the Tigers.
Another windy weekend on the pitch played part in effecting the match, but the Pirates were able to put obstacles aside and gain six more points in the SCAC standing to remain in second behind NSCAA nationally ranked #1 Trinity University.
On Friday, the Pirates dominated play in the first half with 15 shots but were only able to connect once off a corner kick. Fernando Leon served in a bullet to the near post where senior Josh Spencer was able to fight through traffic and get a head on it as it was redirected into the near post past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0. That stood all the way into the half time rest.
The second half the Tigers took advantage of the gusty winds into the North and were able to put a little pressure on the Pirates defense. The Tigers won a throw in early the second half. The ball somehow got through several white shirts and Ryan Tasin could not fight the melee and the ball ended up on a Tigers foot, where he was able to just lob it up and over Kevin Jordan who was giving a last ditch effort to keep the ball out.
Morgan Knobel came on late in the half and proved to be the super sub. Another set piece by the Pirates and by Fernando Leon secured the win. Morgan Knobel went up in the air along with Colin McCulloch (Sugar Land, TX) and Dan Butterworth (Katy, TX) with only one Tiger trying to defend and head it out. The smaller of the four somehow got his head on it and it found the net to be the game winner. This put Leon assists to four on the season for the Pirates.
Sunday was another tough SCAC match that saw some interesting decision making on part of the officiating crew. Despite some calls that went against the home team, the Pirates persevered and did not make the contorversial calls an issue and thumped Oglethorpe 4-1.
From the whistle, the Pirates were all over the Stormy Petrels but again just struggled to get the one goal that would open the flood gates. It took 31 minutes and substitutions of Morgan Knobel and Juan Carreon (Houston, TX) got the party started. Knobel won a hard tackle in the midfield that energized the play and jumpstarted the attack. Ben Feiler (Houston, TX) got down the field and served a ball in to Carreon who quickly cleaned it up on the penalty spot and snapped off a quick left footer to the bottom left corner. Knobel received a great through ball from Juan Carreon on the right edge of the "D" about 22 out, he took a touch towards goal and rifled a worm burner to the back left post for the eventual game winner. Minutes later, Tom Holleman (Houston, TX) then made a great decision as he received a ball in the box and sent a low driven ball across the box to a wide open Josh Spencer who tapped it in to make it 3-0.
The second half saw a little more fight from Oglethorpe with the wind at their backs but the day was about the Pirates even after a penalty kick conversion allowed the Petrels to draw blood. With many calls going against the Pirates, Josh Spencer was awarded a straight red card in 50-50 battle with the goalkeeper and was dismissed from the match. A man down the Pirates were able to seal the deal, as a counter attack shifted the play quickly to the Oglethorpe box. First year Tony Holzbach (Colleyville, TX), took a quick shot that deflected into the net past an on rushing keeper. This made it 4-1 and gave the Pirates another victory.
This pushes the Pirates to 6-7 overall and 5-1 in the tight race for SCAC supremacy.
Trinity 6-0 (18 pts)
Southwestern 5-1 (15 pts)
DePauw 4-0-1 (13 pts)
Centre 4-1 (12 pts)
Rhodes 3-4 (9 pts)
Colorado College 2-1 (6 pts)
Millsaps 2-2 (6 pts)
Sewanee 1-5-1 (4 pts)
Hendrix 1-6 (3 pts)
Oglethorpe 0-5-2 (2 pts)
Birmingham 0-0-0 (0 pts)
Austin 0-3 (0 pts)
The Pirates are off from SCAC play this weekend and will play a former Division III National Champion, St. Lawrence University, winning the title in 1999. This season the Saints are 8-5 overall and 3-2 in their Liberty League play. St. Lawrence is one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division III soccer. The Saints have won 9 Liberty League Conference titles and made 9 straight NCAA tournament appearances from 1998-2006.
Another great opportunity for the Pirates to play some of the best competition in the country. The match is slated for Saturday, October 18 at Noon at Trinity University (San Antonio, TX).
check out the SU press release
http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/101408aaa.html
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