NEWARK, Del. - - A strong second half propelled the fourth seeded Wilmington University men's soccer team into the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Semifinals with a 3-0 victory over No. 5 Concordia on Monday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex in the quarterfinals.
With the win, the Wildcats (12-5-1) advances to the CACC Semifinals in a rematch with No. 1 Post from last year's semifinals. Except this year, the Wildcats hold the home field advantage. The semifinal match is set for the first contest on Wednesday at the WU Athletics Complex, starting at 11 a.m.
After an even first half which both teams managed five shots, the Wildcats took over after the halftime break.
Wilmington came out of the gates in the second frame and put four of the first five shots on the board, three of which found the back of the net.
The half started with a rocket off the foot of Sam Fahnboto after the ball popped free in the middle of the field. Fahnboto's shot stunned Clippers goalkeeper Ruel Gordon as he could only watch it go by him, and ricochet off the post and stay out of the goal.
Not even a minute later, Elton Joe put the Wildcats on the board with his 13th goal of the season, after an excellent play by Joe Woodley on the sideline. With the ball nearly out of bounds in front of the Clippers' bench, Woodley came sliding in and swept the ball into the middle of the field at the top of the 18-yard box. Elton controlled the ball before finding himself 1-on-1 with the keeper, slotting the shot past Gordon for the 1-0 lead at the 50:38 mark of the match.
Joe was a part of the action once again 15 minutes later as he, Bruno Montini, and Tommy Quaranta matched up to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the 66th minute. Joe played a ball to the right of Gordon in goal at the six-yard line, instead of shooting, Montini found a wide-open Quaranta on the back post who was able to one-time it into the empty net for his ninth goal of the year.
Wilmington finished off the Clippers less than three minutes later with another brilliant goal, as Joe recorded his fourth and fifth points of the afternoon with his second goal. Quaranta played a ball to Joe on the left side of the 18-yard box, and Joe curled a ball to the top right upper-90 of the goal frame, out of the reach of Gordon for a perfectly placed goal.
Freshman Jordon Ellison and sophomore Ian Wattanga were able to completely shutout the Clippers' main threat, Ovan Oakley. The CACC leader in goals and points, Oakley came into today's contest scoring in each of his last five matches played, including nine goals in the past three matches. Ellison, who shadowed Oakley for the majority of the match, and Wattanga held Oakley to two first half shots, only one of which was on frame.
Sophomore goalkeeper Frank Hall picked him his second solo shutout of the season by making two first half saves on the afternoon. He is not 7-3 on the year. Gordon recorded four saves in goal for the Clippers before Luis Barajas came on and made one stop.
Again, the No. 4 Wildcats host No. 1 Post on Wednesday at 11 a.m. after the Eagles were able to hold off No. 8 Bloomfield, 4-3, on Monday. Bloomfield had a chance to tie the match at 4-4 with less than five minutes to play, but Post goalkeeper Andre Lindsay saved a penalty kick to preserve the win.
In other CACC Quarterfinal action, No. 2 Dominican came back to defeat No. 7 Holy Family, 3-1, while No. 3 Philadelphia scored a second half goal to defeat No. 6 Chestnut Hill, 1-0. No. 2 Dominican and No. 3 Philadelphia play in the other CACC Semifinal on Wednesday, starting at approximately 1:30 p.m.
