Maroons End Campaign with Sixth-Straight 10-plus Win Season
SALEM, Va. --- The Roanoke College men's soccer team's season came to a close on Thursday night as they fell 4-1 to Emory University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 2012 season proved to be a season of many milestones for the men's soccer team. The Maroons finished the season with a record of 13-5-1. This is the sixth-consecutive 10-win season for Roanoke, a feat that has never been accomplished in 60-plus years of the program. The Maroons actually closed out the season with a record of 10-2-1 in the final 13 games of the season.
Another milestone saw Head Coach Scott Allison finish his illustrious 27-year coaching career at the end of tonight's contest. After announcing his retirement a few weeks ago, the team sparked a four game win streak that led them to its ninth ODAC Championship, and its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance. Allison closed out his career with a coaching record of 309-161-40. Earlier this year, he became the 21st active coach to reach the 300-win plateau.
"We've had a great run in my tenure, my hat's off to all the players who've played here and we've had some great ones," Allison said in his post game interview. "I hope people realize, not just coming here and winning soccer games, but also watching (these young men) grow for four years, and turning out to be good husbands, good fathers, great professional people, and I take a lot of pride in that. If I, in some small way, helped them get to the finish line while they were here, I hope they remember me keeping a watchful eye on them.
Roanoke is now 3-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, while Emory moves up to 2-13-2. Emory and Roanoke had only played each other four times previous to tonight, with each team trading wins over those contests. The Maroons last defeated the Eagles in 2011 with a 3-2 victory in the Roanoke Invitational.
Emory got on the board 18 minutes into the game, when Dylan Price scored from the right side off a pass from Andrew Natalino. Natalino would score again just before half, assisted by Sebastian Hardington, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead heading into the half.
Coming out of the half, Emory jumped on the scoreboard again with a goal from Connor Curtin at 48:42. Andrew Natalino scored a second time on a breakaway goal at 60:06, giving the Eagles a 4-0 lead.
Roanoke kept fighting through the deficit and saw freshman Robbie Lentine net a goal at 76:34 off a pass from Tyler Carbaugh. However, neither team would find the back of the net again, and Emory advanced to the second round with a 4-1 victory.
Emory held the Maroons to five shots on the night, while taking 14 of their own. Roanoke shots came from Carbaugh, Lentine,Mark Strelow, Garrett Eldridge, and Brian White. Lentine's goal was his second of the season, while Carbaugh picked up his second assist. Emory also led in corner kicks 2-0.
Emory will go on to play the #1 ranked team in the country, Messiah College, Sunday evening at 6:00. Messiah has won eight of the last 12 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships.
--- This release is courtesy of the Roanoke College sports information department. ---
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