Nov. 15, 2007
DAYTON, Ohio - The No. 3 seeded Massachusetts Minutemen advanced on penalty kicks to upend the No. 6 seed Dayton Flyers in the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship.
Massachusetts converted all four penalty kicks with Dayton missing two to advance to the semifinals. The game officially ended in a 1-1 tie.
For UMass, junior Chris Brown tallied a second half goal, his second of the season, while senior goalkeeper Zach Simmons made seven saves in the contest. UMass moves to 11-7-1 overall.
For the Flyers, junior Joe Olwig scored his fifth goal of the season as Dayton finishes the 2007 campaign 10-4-5 overall. Senior Zac Gibbens made three saves in net as Dayton held an 18-10 advantage in shots and a 9-4 edge in corner kicks.
Olwig got the Flyers on the board first after graduate student Gary Long and senior Tyler Imbrogno picked up the assists on a give-and-go play to put UD ahead 1-0. The lead didn't last long as Brown scored in the opening minutes of the second half after an assist from Mark DeSantis to tie the contest at 1-1.
Both teams hit the crossbar on shots in the second half and overtime, but could not pull out a victory in 110 minutes of play. In the shootout, Dayton's Alex Torda missed the Flyers' first attempt in the shootout. That opened the door for the Minutemen to convert on all four shootout attempts and move on to the semifinals.
In the earlier contest, Graham Tatters scored the game-winning goal with less than 20 minutes remaining to lift the Charlotte 49ers to a 2-1 victory over the Fordham Rams.
Tatters' second goal of the season came unassisted as Charlotte improved to 12-6-1 overall. Also scoring for the 49ers was Will Shull with his second of the season off assists from Chris Salvaggione and Andres Cuero.
For the Rams, John Pardini recorded his second goal of the season off an assist from Grant Kerr in the second half for the lone Fordham tally. Dan Hajducky made three saves in net as Fordham finishes the season 6-10-3 overall.
On Friday, the 49ers will play the No. 1 seed Saint Louis Billikens beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. The No. 2 seed Rhode Island Rams will battle the Minutemen in the following game at 8 p.m. ET. Both games will be held at Baujan Field in Dayton, Ohio.
