Baldwin-Wallace, Suffolk pull tourney upsets

Cobbers celebrate their third goal in a win against top seeded Macalester in the MIAC semifinals. Concordia plays Augsburg on Friday night for the MIAC men's title. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

Tuesday night marked the epoch of several conference tournaments, but the noise murmured at relatively low decibels, with just a few teams providing shocking results out of the 25 matches that ensued.

Suffolk secured a shocking win over Lasell in the Great Northeast to book a final date with Albertus Magnus, who laid a pounding on Norwich. Lasell maintained an advantage throughout the match, particularly in shots, but an early goal Ben Rollins, and another just before the break proved all that was necessary for Suffolk to hope to join the best in the national tournament.

Capital also fell victim as the No. 3 seed in Ohio Athletic Conference, with Baldwin-Wallace causing the upset. Ranked No. 8 in the Great Lakes region, Capital potentially ended what was a good season after an early two-goal surge turned into a nightmare.  After going up 2-0 by the 18th minute, Capital's horror-show began following Baldwin-Wallace midfielder Jeff Grater's screamer to the top corner in the 25th minute. Ten minutes later, and Pat Brennan slid home the equalizer.  The winner came in the 54th minute, and Capital was unable to mount an offense to regain their lead. Baldwin-Wallace faces Ohio Northern in the semifinals on Thursday.

Kean stunned yet another NJAC opponent tonight with a monumental win over William Paterson.  After taking the lead through an own goal, Kean eventually collapsed, yielding just seven minutes later, but eventually held strong all the way through extra time.  Heroics from Alfredo Oquendo doomed William Paterson to an early exit, and Kean will look to prove they are the worthy recipients of the automatic bid as they take on The College of New Jersey- a penalty-kick win against Montclair State put them in the final- in the championship on Saturday.

In the MIAC, Concordia-Moorhead pulled off a major upset with a 3-1 victory in Macalester's biggest nightmare of the season.  The bad dream began just seconds in the match Riley McGlynn blasting his shot from 15 yards out to grab a shock lead. Well, the lead kept growing for rampant Concordia-Moorhead, as they grabbed goals in the 12th and then again in the 64th minute.  A consolation goal at the death was just that for Macalester, which may struggle to convince the selection committee. Concordia-Moorhead will face Augsburg in the final, a team they already beat this season.

In the Presidents Athletic Conference, Thomas More found itself in Utopia after their brilliant upset of Washington & Jefferson in penalties.  Seeded No. 1, Washington & Jefferson amassed an outstanding, perfect conference record during the regular season, but an early second half goal from Marcos Rosas condemned Washington and Jefferson to fighting an uphill battle until drawing level in the 82nd minute.  Unfortunately for W & J, More staved off any further attack until the end of extra time, and proceeded to hold their nerves to claim a major victory in their hopes to reclaim the conference title, and receive the automatic berth into the tournament.

In other important conference tournament match-ups, No. 5 Dominican was able to rectify past errors, as they put the sword to a brave Concordia (Wis.).  Concordia was able to claim the first points from Dominican as they held them to few shots, and established a firm and well-organized defense to keep the high-flying Stars scoreless.  Tonight was almost no different, until a 51st minute strike from Kyle Boekeloo sealed the fate of Concordia.  Similar with the Capital match, Dominican grabbed a 2-goal lead in the first half, only to allow complacency to open a door for Tyler Harris to smash home Concordia's first just a minute later- goals come in pairs.  Not quite finished, Jacob Pope provided the equalizer to elicit the nerves for Dominican, before Boekeloo's eventual winner in the second half.

Not quite the same Messiah that demonstrates sheer dominance every postseason, the Falcons put just two away on a highly defensive Lebanon Valley.  Reaffirming the 'goals come in pairs theory' the holders scored their lone pair just seconds apart from each other with about ten minutes left on the clock, thanks to midfielders Nick Thompson and Derek Blake.  The No.1 team in the nation will meet their arch-rival, Elizabethtown, for the second time in as many weeks to determine the conference champion.  

 Not much entertainment from the women's side of the ball, with No.18 Lynchburg placing themselves in the Old Dominion Conference finals after a 3-0 hammering of Washington and Lee.  They will meet Virginia Wesleyan, following their upending of number 2 seed Roanoke.  Virginia Wesleyan scored four goals by the 50th minute en route to a substantial 4-1 win, with Kristyn Anselmo bagging a brace.  

 In the MIAA, Alma inched closer to securing the conference crown after a 2-0 win over Adrian in tonights semifinal. Two first half goals ensured the win, while conference rival Calvin knocked-out Kalamazoo 2-1.  Kalamazoo grabbed a lead just before the break through an Emily Gray strike, but the No.15 team in the nation responded with a second half double to setup a thriller for the final.  And in the CCIW, No. 4 Wheaton blanked Millikin to move on to the final on Saturday.