With an 18-0-2 record, the men’s soccer went into the South Central semi-finals against Colorado Mesa with confidence. They have been treating every game the same and taking one game at a time as Doug Elder, head coach, said. The semi-finals took place on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. with home field advantage. The final score was 3-0 making it their 13th shut out of the 2017 season.
“The team came out strong. Coach Elder said if we come out strong we will get the result and that’s what we did,” Carlos Flores, midfielder and sports medicine freshman said.
The first half was tight, it showed how equally talented Colorado Mesa and the men’s soccer team were. At the 5:59 mark, Patrick Fitzgerald, defender and kinesiology junior, made the first goal. This was the only goal achieved in the first half. Taylor Lampe, goalkeeper and exercise physiology redshirt freshman, blocked four shot attempts during the half.
“We came out and I think it was the best we have played all season. We communicated, everyone was positive and we got the job done,” Jordan Speed, defender and business senior.
The second half picked up with more excitement. There were two goals scored for the men’s soccer team to complete the 3-0 shut out. At the 30:32 mark, there was hand-ball on Colorado Mesa that gave MSU a penalty kick. Fitzgerald made another goal with the penalty kick making the score 2-0. At the 20:15, Colorado Mesa had possession and was moving towards the goal. Lampe moved away from the goal to try and block the player in possession. The ball passed Lampe and was headed directly for the goal. Speed managed to run in front of the goal right before the ball went in. He saved the shutout and regained possession for MSU. With just over 9 minutes left to the game, Pierre Bocquet, midfielder and business senior drove the ball down the field. He then passed it to Flores and at the 9:22 mark he made the goal.
“We will go into Friday confident with the win of today. We need to keep playing like we did today and it is going to be good,” Bouquet said.
This game will make the men’s soccer team record 19-0-2 keeping their undefeated record.
“There is always room to improve. It is one of those things where we have to look at the game film and fix a couple of things, but overall the guys did really well and we were the better team today,” Elder said.
The team advances to the South Central finals on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at home.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect date for the playoff game. The story now reflects the correct date.