- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XX - November 10, 2005 - sports
A sudden return to dominance
An overtime goal from Tudor Flintham did more than lift the St. John's soccer team to a MIAC playoff championship, it also snapped a 14-year absence from the NCAA tournament
Staff writer
With the 1-0 overtime victory over Macalester on Saturday night, the St. John's soccer team clinched the MIAC Playoff Championship and advanced into the first round of the Division III NCAA tournament.
Although St. John's (7-2-1 MIAC, 14-2-3 overall) has been the MIAC regular season champion eight times, this marks the first time in school history that the team has won the conference playoff championship. It will also be its fourth NCAA tournament appearance.
"The last time we were given a trophy by the MIAC was in 1989 when we were the MIAC regular season champions," Haws said. "It's been 16 incredibly long years.
"I haven't had a high like that with sports from a coaching point of view before. The boys and I were giddy and thrilled."
The Johnnies will play the University of Chicago (13-5-0) in the opening round at 11 a.m. Saturday in Wartburg, Iowa. The winner will play the winner of St. Norbert/Wartburg at Wartburg on Sunday.
St. John's is joined in the tournament by Macalester and Gustavus. Both teams received at-large bids.
St. John's, a team that dominated the MIAC in the 1980s, makes a long awaited return to the top.
"We ruled the roost in the MIAC," said Haws, who coached either a conference champion or runner-up team every year from 1979 to 1989.
"Before Saturday's win, I was in a long dry spell with nothing, and I wondered if I ever was going to be at the top again."
Macalester, winner of six of the past 10 MIAC championships, gave the Johnnies a significant challenge.
"The toughest part is getting through the mystique [of Macalester]," Haws said. "They don't know they are supposed to lose.
"That's the beauty of a young team, being young and dumb. It's not all bad. It's good not to have as much history as them. We think we can beat them and we want to have the mystique over Macalester," Haws said.
The Johnnies' win came 7:19 into overtime with a goal by senior co-captain Tudor Flintham, who was assisted by first-years Tyler Kodet and Jason Daly.
"I didn't even think about it" Flintham said. "All I thought about was beating the defender, and I just smacked it as hard as I could. I knew [the ball] was going in."
Flintham not only came up big in this game, but all season he has been one of the go-to guys.
"Tudor does a phenomenal job," Haws said. "He is one of the best players in the MIAC, and he is a strong candidate for the most valuable player.
"He has come forward as a leader. He is a nice man and the boys really like him and like being around him. He is an inspirational and an intelligent, crafty player."
Flintham said this game has been the highlight of his soccer career.
"It is just the pinnacle of my career," Flintham said. "And it shows my appreciation of four years of hard work.
"I've been on the team for four years and have seen the great players around me who have never beaten Macalester. Also, to be able to be a part of history and give something back to the school — all of this is almost too good to be true."
The team as a whole, however, made the biggest impact in the match.
"Juniors Ben Passe and Sebastian Gomes controlled the middle field, the defenders defended and goalkeeper Matt Sundberg all got the job done," Haws said.
A big factor was how junior defenders Ben Passe and Sebastian Gomes were able to neutralize Macalester's best player, Andrew Wissler.
"It was definitely something me and Passe had to do," Gomes said. "We just knew that it was part of what me and him personally had to do to get us the win. It's not hard to do when Passe is the other guy to do something with."
Passe talked about the strategy he and Gomes used during the match.
"Basically me and Seb tried to put pressure on them and try to do what they normally do and accurately look ahead and get the ball," Passe said.
"This was especially true in the first half when we put pressure on their outside mids and controlled the air."
Passe also emphasized how well the defense did.
"Right now we are coming together and playing real solid defense," he said. "We only let up one goal in the past six games and some of those have been against the toughest teams like St. Thomas and Macalester."
St. John's must now focus on the University of Chicago, one of the four teams from the University Athletic Association to earn a bid to the national tournament.
"I know it will be a good game," Gomes said. "We just need to focus on the game and let our actions speak for us. Everyone knows that we were the underdogs the whole way.
"We know we are better than a lot of the teams in the tournament. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. We will have no regrets — that is for the end of the day."