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Bulldogs Bid For Share Of WCC Soccer Crown Falls Short
Nov. 16, 2008
MORAGA, Calif. - Gonzaga University's bid for a share of the West Coast Conference men's soccer title ended with a 4-0 loss at Saint Mary's College Sunday. Had the Bulldogs won they would have tied for the regular-season crown with the University of San Francisco, a 5-4 loser at Loyola Marymount University. However, the Dons were assured of the automatic berth heading into Sunday's play by virtue of the tiebreaker that would have come into play in the event of a tie. The tiebreaker would have gone down to how the Bulldogs and Dons did collectively between the University of Portland and SMC since those two teams would have tied for fifth. USF went 3-1-0 while Gonzaga was 2-1-1, thus USF would have received the nod for the automatic berth. With a win Sunday the Bulldogs (9-8-2, 6-5-1) would have reached the 10-win plateau and been a strong candidate for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Sunday's loss snapped a 4-match winning streak as Gonzaga made a late-season push for the WCC crown and NCAA berth. Gonzaga finishes the season tied with the University of San Diego with 19 points, the Toreros and Santa Clara University playing to a 1-1 double-overtime tie on Sunday. The Gaels (6-9-4, 5-4-3) didn't waste any time in forcing the Bulldogs to play catch up when Justin Kim's header at 7:50 for his third goal of the season beat Gonzaga keeper Scott Barnum to the right side. The Gales made it 2-0 on an own goal when a Bulldog defender put a push on the ball as a SMC player was in pursuit. Barnum was ranging out of the net to meet the play and the ball skirted to his left and into the net. SMC took a 3-0 lead into halftime when Justin Grider got his own rebound as his header deflected off Barnum and he got the rebound for the easy put back at 44:52. The Bulldogs had a 26-22 edge in shots and SMC keeper Jason Badger had 11 saves, including two that robbed Ben Funkhouser and Mitchell Weller of goals. Barnum had six saves and Andrew Hickman, who played the second half in the net for the Bulldogs, had a pair of saves.
Gonzaga was forced to play without a pair of starters - senior midfielder Nick Heinrichs and junior defender Nick Barlcay - after they picked up their fifth cautions of the season last Sunday against LMU. Five cautions carries with it an automatic one-game suspension. |
