The University of Mary Washington men's soccer team won their third straight Capital Athletic Conference Championship with a penalty kick victory over Christopher Newport University on Saturday evening in Newport News, VA. The Eagles won the penalty kick shootout, 3-1, after the game was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and overtime. UMW claims their 11th conference championship, most in league history.
The Eagles got out to a fast start in the Championship game as they scored just 4:43 into the game. Senior Gabriel Soriano headed home a ball from senior Luke Turney off of a free kick to put UMW up 1-0. CNU responded right back with a goal five minutes later as they scored off of a rebound to tie the match at 1-1.
UMW kept the pressure on the Captains defense and forced their goalkeeper to make four saves in the rest of the first half. CNU's offense went quiet after their first goal as they only recorded two more shots to close out the half.
The Captains had the first shot on goal at the 54 minute mark but was calmly saved away by Kenny Kurtz. The two teams settled in over the next 26 minutes and neither team recorded a shot. Kurtz came up with another save in the 80th minute to keep the match tied at 1-1.
The Eagles had just three shots in the second half, all blocked by the defense but their best chance came in the 83rd minute following a corner kick. On an ensuing corner kick from Soriano, the ball squirted around and was eventually put in the back of the net, but a foul call from the ref negated the goal and kept the game tied. Both teams looked for that game-winning goal in the last seven minutes but neither could put one home, forcing the game to go into extra time.
In the first overtime, CNU was the only team to register a shot. That shot was fortunately saved away by Kurtz. Kurtz had to come up with another big save in the second period of overtime on a shot that was drilled from outside of the 18. UMW didn't register a shot in either overtime but did have two corner kicks.
In the penalty kick shootout, the Eagles were chosen to kick first. Senior Jacob Lovinger made the first PK for the Eagles. Kurtz made a save to put UMW up 1-0, and then senior Ben Ahrens drilled his PK to put the Eagles up 2-0. The Captains made their next PK, and then a make from sophomore Noah Mazzatenta put UMW up 3-1. Another save from Kurtz put the Eagles in the driver's seat. A miss from UMW kept the PK count at 3-1. CNU stepped up for their fourth PK and clanked it off the cross bar to clinch the PK shootout for UMW.
The two teams each recorded nine shots. UMW had 11 corner kicks to CNU's three. Kurtz made six save sin goal fo the Eagles on the night.
UMW will make their third straight NCAA tournament appearance, 12th time overall. The selection show for Division III will take place on Monday at 1:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Soriano was named the MVP of the CAC Tournament. Luke Turney, Andres Cabrera, and Kurtz were named to the CAC All-Tournament team.