Daniel Webster Off To Middlebury For First NCAA Appearance in Men's Soccer
(Nashua, N.H.) – It's off to the NCAA tournament for the Daniel Webster College men's soccer team, who were one of 60 teams selected to the Division III national championship tournament announced this afternoon by the NCAA selection committee.
The Eagles, coming off winning their second New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) tournament title this past Sunday afternoon, will travel to Middlebury, Vt. to face host Middlebury College on Saturday, November 13th. The game is slated for an 11:00 a.m. start. William Patterson (N.J.) and Thomas College (Maine.) will meet in the second game at 1:30 p.m. on the Middlebury campus with winners facing off the following day at 1:00 p.m.
All three tournament games will be broadcast online at www.gomidd.tv.
"This is a proud and exciting moment not only for Daniel Webster men's soccer, but the Daniel Webster athletics program as a whole," said fourth-year Eagle Head Coach Bill Lawler. "Middlebury is an outstanding program and we know this will be a great challenge. We're excited about the opportunity."
The team joins the 2008 DWC men's cross country squad as the only Eagle programs to ever play in or qualify for a NCAA regional tournament.
The Eagles are 12-5-1 overall, having tied the all time program wins mark for a season. DWC comes into the tourney winners of a program record eight straight and won their second straight NECC tourney after finishing second in the regular season standings.
The Eagle offense is paced by junior midfielder Alex Jackson (Kent, Ohio), who continues to set the new program record for goals (15) and points (32) in a season and was named MVP of the NECC tournament. Four players follow with 11 points each on the season including rookie Ben Anthony (Greenfield, N.H.) with a 5-1—11 mark, along with senior Mike Lohr (Chepachet, R.I.), juniors Spencer Bernard (Windsor Locks, Conn.), and Tim Amberman (Shrewsbury, Penn.) who have all contributed 4-3—11 totals.
Junior Joe Keene (Bristol, N.H.) owns a 0.98 GAA with a 10-5-1 record this season.
The Eagles will have a tough task ahead of them as they face a Middlebury club that comes off winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament title with a scoreless tie against fifth-ranked Bowdoin College that was settled by penalty kicks.
The Panthers, who were receiving votes in the most recent NSCAA national poll and were ranked as high as 13th at one point this season, are 13-3-1 overall and have outscored their opponents by an aggregate of 37-7 this season, sporting a team goals against average of just 0.40. Tyler Macnee (5-2—12) and Jake Edwards (3-6—12) lead the team in points while Tim Cahill owns a 0.42 GAA with 11 shutouts.
