Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The Hilbert College men’s soccer team got back on the winning track with their 3-2 AMCC victory over D’Youville College October 17. Matt Saxton scored the opeing goal as Hilbert improved to 7-6-1 overall and 5-2 in league play. This 2012 team continues to break single season records and they are the first Hilbert men’s soccer team to secure an AMCC play-off berth since Hilbert joined the league in 2004. The Spartans dropped to 2-14 overall and sit in a three-way tie for seventh place.
Hilbert doubled D’Youville’s shots in the first half (10-5) but both team’s went to intermission deadlocked at 0-0. Fifteen minutes into the second half, things got interesting. Saxton scored the first goal of the night off an assist by Jonathan Davison. Then, at 63:51 Ed Minkel found Mario Williams for his ninth goal of the season pushing the Hawks up 2-0.
At 74:35 Josh Pfutner headed in a crossed ball past Hilbert’s Paul Liedkie to close the gap. But eighty seconds later, Davison shrugged off a Spartan defender before he beat the D’Youville keeper, scoring his third game winning goal of the season. With less than two minutes left in the game, Mate Tarr beat Liedkie for the game’s final score.
Liedkie remained undefeated in the net (4-0) making six saves during the match.
Up next, the Hawks will honor their seven seniors prior to the La Roche College (5-2) game October 20 at 3pm. They close out their regular season Tuesday, October 23 when they host Penn State Behrend (7-0). The first round game in the AMCC play-offs is set for October 27. Seeds 1 and 2 earned byes that day, while seed 3 hosts the sixth seeded team, and seed 4 hosts the fifth seed. With two games remaining, it is too early to know where the Hawks will be seeded.