University of Dallas men’s soccer has now won three consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) matches with victories over Schreiner University and Trinity University this past weekend.
“[Aside from] the fact that Trinity is a pretty hard team to play against, it’s a difficult weekend to prepare for because the two teams tend to be pretty different,” Head Coach David Hoffmann said.
Dallas scored a season high five goals in a dominant shutout win over Schreiner on Friday afternoon. Five different Crusaders scored in the contest.
Sophomore forward Nat Kajiwara opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. Senior midfielder Andrew Ciancone, senior defender Sean Taylor and sophomore midfielder Chase Reynolds each contributed a goal in the first half for the Crusaders.
Freshman midfielder Jose Martinez scored the final goal of the contest for UD in the second half, as Dallas outshot Schreiner by a total of 25-7 for the game. Martinez led UD in points, with two assists added to his goal for a total of four points for the day.
Sophomore goalkeeper Sean Carlin saved four of Schreiner’s shots on goal, splitting halves with senior goalkeeper Jacob Chimento, who saved one shot on goal in his first appearance this season.
A total of 26 players saw the field for Dallas during the match.
“A real blessing [with the Schreiner game] is that it afforded a lot of guys to come in and carry the baton,” Hoffman said.“It gave [the starters] that three to five percent in the tank for the Sunday match.”
On Sunday the Crusaders upset the defending SCAC champions Trinity University with a hard-fought 2-1 victory. Trinity was ranked No. 8 in the national Division III poll coming into Sunday’s match. Dallas broke Trinity’s 20-game winning streak against SCAC opponents.
“Trinity is a very good team, and they have an ego to match,” Hoffmann said. “Their confidence sometimes causes them to overcommit. You have to play a certain way to beat a team that plays like [Trinity].”
Dallas fell behind by 1 when Trinity scored in the first half. However, the Crusaders avoided further damage when Carlin made a crucial save off of a penalty kick in the 39th minute.
In the second half, a foul by Trinity in the box led to a goal off of a penalty kick by Taylor, leveling the score 1-1.
Soon after, a pass from senior defender Eric Haigh found sophomore midfielder Brady McNamara near the goal. McNamara capitalized on the opportunity by walking the ball into the goal to put the Crusaders up 2-1 with 31 minutes left in the match.
“It felt great to beat Trinity again,” McNamara said. “I think the biggest takeaway from this game is that we know we have the ability to compete against anybody in the country.”
Dallas held Trinity to only one shot for the remainder of the half, pulling off the upset over their conference rival.
“I think defensively we’re strong and compact together,” McNamara said. “We communicated with each other well and covered each other when we needed it. It was a great team effort.”
Men’s soccer now holds a 4-2 overall record, with a 3-1 record against SCAC opponents. UD will host another SCAC match against Austin College on Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. The Crusaders face six matches over a a span of 12 days, five of which are on the road.
Hoffmann insists that this unusual span of games will be a trial for his squad
“It’s just a heck of a run,” Hoffman said. “The focus has got to be health and recovery. You have to take what the game will give you.”
