Back in 2005, Wesleyan men’s soccer entered the NESCAC tournament as the seventh seed. Wes went on to crush Bowdoin 4-1 in the first round, then won at top-seeded Williams 1-0 and took down Amherst 3-2 to win its first NESCAC title. Fast forward to 2010, when the Cards are again seeded seventh. Wes traveled to Williams–which stood 11-1-2 on the season going into the game–for a first-round contest today and pulled off another upset for the ages, taking down the Ephs 2-1.
Williams jumped on the board first when a Wesleyan midfielder inadvertently knocked the ball into the Wesleyan net (interestingly, Williams beat Middlebury last fall to win the NESCAC title in the exact same fashion), but Wes tied the game with 7:38 left thanks to Zach Dixon ’12. That set the stage for Walter Rodriguez’s ’13 (right photo) overtime heroics. Rodriguez found the back of the net 4:23 into overtime to make Wesleyan a 2-1 winner and send the Cards into the NESCAC semifinals. Their semifinal opponent? None other than Bowdoin.
Wes made it into the tournament thanks to Steve Paresi ’12 (left photo), who had the game-winner against Conn. College on Friday. With Wes needing a win to make it into the tournament, Paresi scored midway through the second overtime period to give Wesleyan a 3-2 win and keep the Cards undefeated against the Camels under head coach Geoff Wheeler (12-0-0, dating back to 1999).
Wes takes on Bowdoin this Saturday at 11:00, and the game will likely be webcast. Keep it going, boys!
(Photos courtesy Peter Stein ’84.)
Pingback: Shea Dwyer ’10 reaches 1,000 career rushing yards – Wesleying