Diplomats Advance Past Garnet in CC Semifinal
BALTIMORE, Md. - Franklin & Marshall forward Matt McCall scored in the 70th minute to advance the Diplomats to the Centennial Conference Championship game with a 1-0 win over third-seed Swarthmore on Saturday night at Homewood Field.
The second-seed Diplomats (13-2-3) will face top-seed Johns Hopkins for the Centennial Championship on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Blue Jays advanced past semifinal opponent Gettysburg 5-3 in penalty kicks after a 1-1 through 110 minutes of action.
The F&M/Swarthmore game figured to be a low-scoring affair - six of the last eight match-ups have ended 1-0. This match developed much the same way, remaining scoreless at halftime with the Diplomats on top in the shot-category, 4-2.
F&M finally broke the through with a goal in at 69:29 - sophomore forward Bobby Condray sent a cross to the left side of the box where McCall was all alone. The junior forward settled the ball at his feet and beat Garnet goalkeeper Ryan Sutcliffe '08 on the right corner for his sixth goal of the season.
The Garnet came back down the field with a great chance in the next minute, but sophomore Ladule Lako Lo Sarah's header sailed high over the bar. Swarthmore made one final rush in the 90th minute, getting a throw-in on the left side - junior Michael Bonesteel's header among a large crowd missed the net high.
Statistically-speaking, the game was as close as it could get - both teams had eight shots with F&M taking three corners to Swarthmore's two.
Diplomats' netminder Ed Stelz made a pair of saves while Sutcliffe posted three stops for the Garnet.
Swarthmore dips to 12-5-1 overall yet stands a good chance to earn its third consecutive berth into the ECAC South Region Championship. The selections for the 2006 edition will be made on Monday afternoon.