Cavers powers Duhawks into Elite 8
By Jim Naprstek, Assistant Sports Information Director
#4 Loras, 2
UW-Platteville, 1
After two 1-nil victories in the opening rounds of the NCAA Division III Soccer Championships, the Duhawks prepped for a rematch with fellow tri-state squad, the UW-Platteville Pioneers. For Platteville, it was the farthest that any soccer team had made it in the NCAA Tournament, but for the Duhawks, this was just another stepping stone to the end goal.
Junior Kevin Cavers, who was recently named Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player, stepped forward and ripped a shot in the 9th minute to put the Duhawks ahead early. Unlike most of Loras' opponents in 2012, the Pioneers came right at them, resulting in a very fast paced and physical match.
In the 34th minute, Platteville struck gold after a free kick from Chris Brown. Junior Dylan Milkent had his signals crossed up with his back line resulting in the low angled shot to shoot past him and into the back of the net. The half would end deadlocked at one, holding a narrow advantage in shots 6-5.
20 minutes into the second half, Cavers found himself with space after turning his defender. Similarly to his first half goal, Cavers rifled a short bouncing ball that found its way into the net, putting Loras up 2-1. Not even two minutes later, junior Erik Berkowitz was forced to slide inside the penalty area to prevent a shot attempt, resulting in the referee awarding Platteville a penalty kick. With the crowd roaring, Brandon Chmiel, who was responsible for Loras' lone loss, stepped to the mark and sent his shot low and to the right. Milkent would make up for the allowed goal in the first half, sending away Chmiel's shot attempt and out of danger.
Despite courageous attempts, the Pioneers were unable to find the equalizer. With the victory, the Duhawks move on to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament where they will face Wheaton College who defeated Dominican University 1-0.
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In the first match of the night, the Wheaton College Thunder took on the Dominican University Stars. The two teams met in the regular season, with Dominican defeating the Thunder 2-0.
Wheaton was successful in applying pressure throughout most of the match, resulting in Dominican being forced to play the ball backwards more often than they were used to. The lone goal of the match came in the 50th minute, when Marshall Hollingsworth put home the pass he received from Adam Blackman. The goal would stand the test, as Dominican would be unable to score despite numerous attempts.
Wheaton returns to the Elite Eight for the first time since their National Runner-Up performance in 2006.
