Rochester Gets Past Oberlin 3-0, Moves On To Sweet 16
The University of Rochester men's soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Soccer Tournament with a 3-0 victory over Oberlin College on Sunday evening.
The Yellowjackets (15-2-2) advance past the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in the program's history while Oberlin (14-4-4) loses in the 2nd round in its first ever appearance in NCAA postseason play.
Rochester senior Max Fan scored the first goal for the second straight night after he found the bottom right corner off a breakaway pass from freshman Jeff Greblick. After only two goals during the regular season, Fan has matched that total in his first two postseason contests. "With one of our top scorers [Alex Swanger] not playing, we needed guys to step up and I was able to do that in these two games," said the Rochester senior.
After his goal in the first half, Fan supplied the primary assist on Rochester's second goal coming 14 minutes into the second half. Junior Griffin Drake beat his defender one-on-one along the right sideline and then fed Fan who crossed a beautiful ball to junior Shane Dobles who was waiting along the far post for an easy strike into the goal. Said Fan of the play "I like making a great pass setting up a goal better than scoring, it gets more of my teammates involved in the game."
The second goal was the turning point according to Oberlin coach Blake New. "We felt if we could get the tying goal, the game would turn," New said. "We missed a runner on the back post. It was something we talked about in pre-game. We told the players 'You have to track your man because they will send people (towards goal)."
Head coach Chris Apple's bench would supply a third goal for Rochester, giving the home Yellowjackets some insurance in the later part of the contest. Sophomore Andrew Greenway started the play dribbling in the midfield before dishing the ball along the sideline to junior Jarvis D'Souza. D'Souza then crossed a pass right at the back post where freshman Ben Swanger was waiting to head in his 2nd goal of the year.
"One of the keys to the game was our passing; that was something we really improved on after Saturday's win [over SUNYIT], said Apple. "Oberlin was a tough, resilient team and turned their defense into offense and was able to generate some chances."
Drake would supply the first two good chances of the contest for the Yellowjackets, shooting a cross from Jeff Fafkinski high in the 5th minute, and then sending a ball into the box that was sent high by Greblick seven minutes later.
Oberlin could only muster three shots in the game, one of which was on goal in the opening 45 minutes, courtesy of sophomore John Ingham. The Yeomen only earned one corner as well, coming with under 10 seconds to play in the first half, so they were unable to set up a play to potentially score the equalizer.
New wanted the Yeomen to focus on three parts of the game. "We had to defend set pieces, because they do those so well," he said of the Yellowjackets. "Second, we wanted to switch play quickly, because their defense recovers well. Third, we wanted to be aggressive in the final third (of the field). I thought we were fine until that last third."
Fan nearly scored his second of the night for Rochester 20 minutes into the second half, but Oberlin keeper Brandt Rentel made a great save off the redirected free kick. Rentel couldn't rest long though, as he was forced to make a diving save off a hard 35-yard strike from sophomore Andrew Greenway two minutes later. Rentel made eight saves on the night, his last college game at Oberlin.
Rentel made 13 saves the night before in a 2-0 win over SUNY Oneonta. He was the North Coast Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year this season.
The Yeomen earned a solid chance with just under 20 minutes left in the game, but the cross from freshman Sam Weiss looking for Adam Chazin-Gray at the back post was cut off nicely by UR goalkeeper Mike Moranz. He made one save in the UR net for his seventh shutout of the year.
Said Fan after the game, "We need to bring it every day in practice and not settle for getting just one of our goals in winning a UAA title, our next goal is to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament." Rochester will take on Montclair State University in the Sweet 16.
"At this level, you can't make mistakes against good teams," New said.
