- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XXI - November 17, 2005 -
Overtime goal drops SJU from tournament
University of Chicago rallies to knock out SJU from first round of national playoffs
Staff writer
A week after beating Macalester to win the MIAC championship, the St. John's soccer team's season came to an abrupt end.
The Johnnies, who won the MIAC's automatic postseason bid after winning the conference playoff, fell 3-2 to the University of Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament Saturday in Waverly, Iowa.
The loss ended a eight-match run in which the team went 6-0-2.
"We went places we never thought we could go. It didn't even cross our minds before we did them," head coach Pat Haws said. "It's not accurate to say it was a dream come true because no one dreamed of it."
Facing a one-goal deficit, St. John's tied the match with less than 17 minutes left in regulation on a goal by senior Dan Swift.
Tudor Flintham followed that up with a goal 12 minutes later — and with less than five minutes left in the match — to give the Johnnies a 2-1 lead.
However, with 33 seconds left on the clock, Chicago spoiled the Johnnies' late rally.
Chicago's Giordano Palloni scored on a free kick to send the match into overtime.
Then, with just under three minutes left in the second overtime period, Chicago scored the game-winning goal to knock St. John's out of the playoffs.
"It's maddening because we had them," Haws said. "We should have killed the game (after the second SJU goal). We can do that in soccer by ... putting it out of bounds, but we didn't."
Other than that, Haws said the team did everything they could have done to get the win.
Swift agreed.
"We came out like young teams do," Swift said. "However, we held our ground and we were actually dominating for the most part, but just came up short in the end."
"They are a good group of guys," sophomore midfielder Levi Glines said, "and it's going to be hard losing the sense of family we had in the last 3-and-a-half months of being with each other almost everyday."
Glines believes the young team, which only graduates Swift and Flintham, will benefit from a year of experience.
"I learned that in everything you do, you can contribute to the team even if you aren't playing," Glines said. "You can push others in practice to do better.
"I've also learned to push the (I) away and focus on the team as a whole."
Both goals on Saturday by St. John's were ironically scored by the only two seniors on this year's team, Swift and Flintham.
"It was pretty sweet and really fitting for us to score, but we just made some mistakes (as a team) and they took control," Swift said.
Although college soccer careers are over for Flintham and Swift, Swift plans to continue playing soccer during the summer on an amateur team in the Minnesota Amateur Soccer League.
"Most of the guys on the team are St. John's alums and it's a good way to keep in touch with the buddies that I have played with in the past," Swift said.
Haws will not only lose Flintham and Swift's on-field talent, but he will always need to replace their off-field impact.
"They treated the young guys with respect," Haws said. "When given the chance to be the leaders, they treated them very nicely, and we will be able to use their leadership as a model."