Bonesteel Steals Honey From Bears
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Swarthmore junior Michael Bonesteel scored his third goal of the season and goalkeeper Ryan Sutcliffe remained perfect in October as the Garnet defeated Ursinus 1-0 in Centennial Conference men's soccer action Wednesday afternoon.
Swarthmore won its third consecutive game to improve to 11-4-1 overall and 5-3 in the Centennial. The Bears fell to 1-12-2 and 0-7-1 in the conference.
With the win, the Garnet move closer to clinching a third consecutive berth in the Centennial Conference Championships. Swarthmore currently sits in a tie with Gettysburg for third place (15 points) in the regular season standings with the final day of competition coming on Saturday.
Bonesteel provided the lone fireworks of this game, dodging Bears' netminder Ed de Gottal and settling the ball into the open net at 17:18.
Sutcliffe, who has not given up a goal the entire month, made a diving save off an Ursinus free kick in the second half to post his fifth shut-out of the season. It has been over 456 minutes (28:11 at Washington on Sept. 27) since the junior has allowed a goal, dropping his season goals against average to 0.56.
The Garnet out-shot the Bears 8-5 in the contest while Ursinus took six corners to Swarthmore's five.
Swarthmore conclude the 2006 regular season on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. with the annual meeting with historic rival Haverford. A Garnet win or tie sends Swarthmore into the Centennial playoffs (as does a Dickinson loss vs. Gettysburg).