ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Carleton College men's soccer team had a flair for the dramatic in posting its eighth consecutive victory. Sophomore Tim Wills (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) set up Wes Elfman (Jr./Madison, Wis./Edgewood) for the winning goal with :11.9 left in the second overtime period. During the win streak the Knights (10-3, 7-1 MIAC) have out-scored their opponents 21-1 and taken command of the conference standings.
While seven teams remain alive in the race for the four-team MIAC Playoffs, today's victory goes a long way toward securing a third straight trip to the postseason. Since the MIAC switched to a four-team post-season tournament in 2003, no team with seven conference victories has been left out.
St. Thomas (7-5-1, 3-2 MIAC) possessed a 17-7 edge in shots but was unable to knock one past Carleton keeper Pete Semmer (Jr./Del Mar, Calif./Bishop’s School), who notched four saves in recording his eighth shutout of the campaign.
The Knights dodged a bullet late in the first half with Jeff Frank’s header hit the crossbar. Shortly after intermission Semmer came up with a huge stop, robbing the Tommies’ Mike Hutton. The pair repeated their showdown 20 minutes later, but again Semmer was up to the task.
After a St. Thomas throw in with about 30 seconds left in the second overtime period, defender Robert Carlton (Sr./Madison, Wis./Memorial) cleared the ball, and Tyler Bechtel (Fy./Mattawan, Mich.) flicked it forward with a header. Miles Silbert (So./St. Louis Park, Minn.) controlled the ball and played it back toward the middle where a streaking Elfman one-touched a pass to Wills.
The sophomore playmaker, who ranks sixth in the nation in assists per game (0.77), spun to his left and made a diagonal pass back to the right, perfectly leading Elfman on his run.
Tommies netminder Carlos Castelan came out to try to smother the ball, but Elfman cleared the danger by touching the ball to the right, recovered, and blasted his third game winner of the season.
Carleton has now won its last three overtime contests.
Carleton hits the road for another conference game on Saturday when the Knights travel to Augsburg College for a 7:00 p.m. re-match of the 2008 MIAC Playoff finals.
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