Box score
TAMPA, FLA. -- The Lees-McRae College Bobcats men's soccer team
came up just short in the 2009 NCAA Division II National
Championship Match with a 1-0 loss to Fort Lewis in a physical
match at Pepin Stadium.
The lone goal of the match came in the 78th minute when a Kyle
Wood cross found David Barden on the back post to give Fort Lewis
the 1-0 win.
The Skyhawks outshot the Bobcats 14-11 including 7-3 on frame,
but Lees-McRae held a 5-3 corner kick advantage.
Sean Paradise made six saves for the Bobcats between the pipes
and again kept the Bobcats in the match from his back line for the
second time in Tampa.
Luke Perry had the Bobcats best chance at a goal in the first
half but couldn't settle the ball the get a quality shot on frame,
and in the second half, Berin Boracic's shot was saved by the
Skyhawks keeper right to David Palmer whose shot was saved just
outside of the goal by a Skyhawk defender.
"I am very proud of what we have done this season," head coach
Chris Whalley said. "There are 200 something men's soccer programs
in Division II, and we don't have the most scholarship, the biggest
budget, the best travel, the biggest school or the best meals, but
we are a family and we work hard together. The support we get from
the campus community and the town's community is outstanding, and I
can't thank them enough. We had people leave at midnight tonight
and drive 14 hours through the night to get here and they were loud
from 50-minutes before the match to 20-minutes following the
match."
"I don't know why we were the underdog in this match because
after the first 20 minutes I felt we controlled the game," said
Whalley. "We scouted them well and knew they were a good crossing
team. We took that away the entire match, except for that one time
and they made us pay."
Making the Final Four All-Tournament Team for the Bobcats was
midfield, Sam Kennedy, goalkeeper, Paradise and forward,
Boracic.
The Bobcats' season ends at 18-3-2 and by far the best season in
the school's and Conference Carolinas history. Also the careers of
five seniors ended tonight in Tampa. Goalkeeper Dylan Lawrence,
midfielder Ignacio Falco, defender Dale Parker, Paradise and
Boracic will go down as Lees-McRae's most winning class in men's
soccer. The five were 64-15-9 with three Sweet Sixteen trips, two
Elite Eight matches, one Final Four match and one National
Championship match.
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