The Sandspur

Issue date: 11/19/04 Section: Sports

Media Credit: John Ferreira

The magical season is over for the Rollins Soccer team as they lost 2-1 to Central Arkansas. The Tars still had a historic season, making it to the NCAA Tournament for a second year in a row, winning the Sunshine State Conference for the first time in history, and having finished with only one loss at home.

Rollins beat the University of Montevallo in the first round by 1-0 in an exciting overtime match. Three hundred fifty fans showed up to cheer on their Tars as the Sandspur Field was decorated for the NCAA gala event. Rollins played much better than Montevallo for much of the game, out-shooting their opponents 22 to 13. The Tars could just not find their mark as they got only six shots on goal, a meager twenty-seven percent.

The game was action-packed right from the start. Rollins dominated on the offensive end and kept up the pressure. The best moment came from a free kick from Daniell Robertson, that required a great save from Montevallo goalkeeper Raven Keet. Rollins' inefficiency around the goal hurt as they had chances to break the scoreless tie but just couldn't get the ball into the goal. The second half was better balanced as Montevallo held onto the ball more and pressured the Rollins defense. Their best chance came when Tars goalkeeper Jeffrey Rogers made a save off a corner kick, but the ball fell to Montevallo's Tommy Robison who chipped it past Rogers towards the open net. Anthony Santiago ran in a cleared the ball off the line to keep the game scoreless.

The game then went into overtime and easily enough Rollins got the goal only forty seconds into overtime. Chris Cerroni dribbled the ball past the defense and crossed it to Anthony Santiago who pushed it into the empty goal. It was Cerroni's eighth assist and Santiago's first goal of the season. Rollins could not get the same luck against the Bears of Central Arkansas. Ryan Dodds scored the lone goal for Rollins. The Tars were outshot eleven to seven. Rollins took the lead, but gave up the equalizer only ten minutes later.

The game remained tied until the eightieth minute when Chad McCarthy crisscrossed through the Rollins defense and blasted the game winner from 20 yards out. The Tars now look to next year to build off a successful season that propelled them into the number seven spot nationally. All in all, Rollins had a great season in Men's Soccer and with a core of players that will remain somewhat intact the future looks bright.

Fan interest was heightened with this tournament run, and great crowds brought into the new stadium prove that. For the final game of the season over 400 fans went to Sandspur field.

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