The season for Men’s Soccer came to an end this past weekend, falling to Franklin and Marshall College on Saturday, Nov. 15 in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament. UR advanced by defeating Salisbury College 4-0 on Friday, November 14.
Both games took place in Lancaster, PA. on the campus of Franklin and Marshall, who were chosen by the NCAA to host the first and second round games because of their national ranking of 15.
Against Salisbury, the ‘Jackets went scoreless in the first half, but came out with energy and intensity after halftime. Four minutes into the second half, sophomore Ben Swanger put Rochester on the board, giving them a lead they would only build on, with subsequent goals coming from sophomore Jeff Greblick, senior Seth Davis-Brown, and junior Andrew Greenway.
Also on Friday, Franklin and Marshall defeated Johnson and Wales University in their opening-round match, setting up their encounter with UR.
On Saturday, the ‘Jackets got off to a big start when senior Ben Keeton scored his sixth goal of the year. Keeton, along with his classmates, were all aware that a loss would end their soccer careers at Rochester, undoubtedly adding some extra weight to the game.
Franklin and Marshall responded a few minutes after UR took the lead, scoring an equalizer in the eighteenth minute.
The game would remain tied 1-1 into halftime and through much of the second half. With time winding down, however, Franklin and Marshall capitalized on a long throw in and took the lead with under ten minutes to play, putting the ‘Jackets’ backs against the wall.
With their season on the line, UR stepped up in a big way, with Swanger scoring less than three minutes later to tie the game in what would be his second goal of the weekend. For his performance, Swanger was named UAA offense player of the week.
After two scoreless ten-minute overtime periods as a cold rain began to fall, the match went to penalty kicks to determine the outcome. Unfortunately for UR, the luck seemed to be with the hosts, as Franklin and Marshall’s goalkeeper was able to guess the right direction of two Rochester kicks, stopping them both and enabling his team, who scored all their kicks, to emerge victorious.
The loss ends another season for UR, a team that once again competed well in the tough UAA conference, finishing with a conference record of 3-3-1 and an overall mark of 10-5-4.
Shapiro is a member of the class of 2016.
