The #4 seeded Aquinas men's soccer team dropped a heart breaker to top seeded Indiana Tech in the WHAC Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday evening (Nov. 10) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After conceding a goal in the first half, the Saints were able to tie the game up early in the second period before ending the game tied after two overtimes at 1-1 and eventually falling 6-5 in the shootout.
The pace of play for the first 45 minutes of the game were mostly controlled by the Warriors in that they outshot the Saints by an 8-3 margin. One of the IIT shots gave them the one goal advantage as Maxwell Amoako put away a pass from Pep Cesas for the goal in the 24th minute. Five of the eight shots Indiana Tech took were on frame with
Jared Ireland making four of those saves to keep it a one goal game heading into halftime.
The Saints were granted a great scoring opportunity in the 52nd minute of the second half after a Warrior foul just outside of the box. Just like in the previous game against Madonna,
Theo Maye stepped up and drilled his shot attempt past the goalkeeper for his fourth goal on the season on the free kick. The physicality of the game escalated in the second half with 17 cards being handed out throughout the game. In the 66th minute,
Ricardo Rittersberger of AQ and Jonas Kalmann of IIT received their second yellow cards of the game and were given red cards. The game was now down to 10 versus 10 until the 83rd minute when Juan Zugaza of IIT also received his second yellow card and was sent off, giving the Saints a one-man advantage. Regulation ended in a 1-1 draw as the playoff game headed to overtime.
Even being down a man, Indiana Tech kept the pressure on by outshooting Aquinas 11-0 through the two overtime periods.
Antonio Strassioto, who came on for Ireland in the second half due to injury, was able to make all three saves needed to keep the game tied up heading into a shootout.
Indiana Tech won the coin toss and selected to go first in the best-of-five shootout. Strassioto came up with a big save in IIT's first attempt to give the Saints the advantage.
Andrea Ghiggini,
Jasper Schinkel, and
Joe Lockey all converted on their attempts in rounds one, two, and three. In round four after the Warriors made the goal to tie the shootout up at 3-3,
Liam Travers' shot was saved by Jaume Salvado to give the advantage back to Indiana Tech. The Warriors and Maye both made their shootout goals to send it into a round-by-round situation. In round six,
Joshua Clemitson was able to come through after an IIT goal to send it into round seven. After the Warriors converted on their kick,
Damir Sabanovic's attempt was saved again by Salvado to give Indiana Tech the 6-5 shootout win and the opportunity to play in the WHAC Championship.
Ireland (6-0-3) remain undefeated on the season after making six saves and allowing the one goal in 67 minutes before leaving with an injury. Strassioto kept the Saints in the game by collecting three saves and not allowing a goal through the rest of the second half and both overtime periods. Salvado saved one of his two opportunities through regulation and overtime, while allowing one goal.
Aquinas was outshot by Indiana Tech 24-5 throughout the game with IIT also holding a 10-2 shots on goal advantage. Indiana Tech also had more corner kicks by an 8-3 margin, while the Saints committed 18 fouls to the Warriors' 15.
Aquinas likely ends its season with a 7-5-4 overall record, while also finishing fourth in the conference at a 6-2-2 record with a shot at the NAIA National Tournament seeming unlikely.
