Video Highlights (click image above)
Photo gallery by Niko Duffy ’13 and Russ Aguilar ’13
NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College men’s soccer team—ranked No. 12 in the NSCAA national poll—opened the MIAC Playoffs with a 2-0 victory over Saint John’s University. Will Corcoran (Jr./Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) found the net in the 62nd minute to provide the game-winner as the Knights avenged their lone loss of the season. Carleton will now host the MIAC Playoff finals on Saturday with the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships at stake.
Carleton (17-1-1) dominated the shot margin in the first half of play, outshooting the visitors (9-6-4) squad by a 12-3 margin. The Knights failed to translate this advantage into a lead, however, and the teams entered intermission scoreless.
In the second half, it was senior midfielder Alex Voorhees (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) who sprang the offensive attack. In the 62nd minute, he found Corcoran in space along the left side. Corcoran picked up the pass and dribbled toward the middle and inside the 18, before lifting the ball up in the air over the leaping Saint John’s keeper Kevin Labahn. It was Corcoran’s eighth tally of the season.
Voorhees would increase the gap in the 81st, when he fired a long range shot off a feed from Ben Walsh (Jr./New Canaan, Conn./St. Paul’s School). The shot sailed and ricocheted off the upper 90, before bouncing of a sprawling Lebahn and into the net for Voorhees’ sixth goal of the year.
Carleton outshot Saint John’s 22-6 on the day, but dodged a bullet early in the second half. Following a turnover, Michael Cobron got behind the Knights’ backline but the Johnnie midfielder’s shot slipped outside the left post.
The Knights an unbeaten over their last 14 contests and now have 17 wins this season, tying a program record set back in 2008 when the team went 17-2-3 en route to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.
The Knights will have a chance to set a new record on Saturday, Nov. 3 when they host Gustavus Adolphus College, which defeated St. Thomas 1-0 in the other semifinal, with the MIAC postseason crown on the line. Carleton and Gustavus, which shared the MIAC regular-season title, will battle for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The game will start at 1 p.m., and Knights Online will have live stats and video coverage of the match.
Alex Voorhees celebrates his second-half insurance goal (photo by Niko Duffy).
