The Elizabethtown College men’s soccer team fell 1-0 to the Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchmen in the semifinal match of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs Nov. 2. Although the season ended prematurely for the Blue Jays, Head Coach Skip Roderick was named Coach of the Year for helping the Blue Jays successfully navigate a tough schedule. Etown finished 9-7-3 overall.
Going into playoffs in second place, the Blue Jays had home field advantage against the Dutchmen. Junior Andrew Fetterman stated, “It feels great having earned a spot in the playoffs as well as earning home field advantage. The semifinals will be a tough match-up for us so any advantage we can get will help.”
The playoff preparation for the upcoming game was slightly different than for other games. Fetterman explained the preparation: “To prepare for playoffs, we will cater our practice to a specific style of play, which we think can beat our opponent.” The Blue Jays came in knowing it would be a tough game, for they tied LVC 1-1 in the regular season.
Despite the practice, LVC’s Andrew Cooper scored the only goal in the game just a few minutes before halftime, and the Blue Jays were unable to even the score. The Dutchmen kept offensive pressure throughout the whole game, aiming 14 shots on the goal, while Etown only had nine shots.
Although Etown was unable to advance to the championship game, the Blue Jays were well represented on the All-Conference teams. First-year Martin Fevre was a First Team selection, while senior Ross Withrow and junior Kyle Volk were selected to the Second Team. Senior goalie Eric Carr and sophomore Dylan Sisler rounded out the Etown selections with Honorable Mention awards.
This is not Roderick’s first time being named Coach of the Year; he has been appointed that honor five times in his Etown career. The 500 career win mark is within sight for Roderick, for his total wins stands at 468 after this season.
Before facing LVC, the Blue Jays finished their regular season with a win over the Widener University Pride Saturday, Oct. 27. This win also secured Etown’s home game in the playoffs.
Throughout the first half of the game, neither team seemed to be able to knock in a goal. The first goal came off first-year Shane Votto within the first seven minutes of the second half. With the first goal of the game Votto grabbed the first goal of his career. Votto was able to knock the ball in off a cross from Withrow, marking a team-leading fourth assist of the season and his 18th assist of his career.
The Blue Jays’ defense held strong until a penalty in the box sent Widener’s DJ DiPaola to the line to take a shot against Carr. While Carr would finish the game with one save, he was unable to put back DiPaola’s shot, which tied the game 1-1 with 20 minutes left. Carr’s save marked his 59th of the regular season.
Determined not to leave the game in a tie, the Blue Jays stepped up their offense once again. Senior Adriano Maneo ended his last regular season game as a Jay as a hero. With four minutes left in the game, Maneo scored to put the Jays ahead 2-1.
The Etown seniors were able to pick up their Commonwealth Conference final win. Fetterman said of the seniors, “It felt ‘right’ to see the seniors end with a win. For all that the seniors have contributed to the team and program for the last four years, they deserve to go out on top.” With a second place finish in the conference, on top is exactly where the Blue Jays sit.
The Blue Jays have had a successful history against Widener, with a 17-2 record overall since their first meeting in 1993. The Jays picked up their seventh conference win while handing the Pride their fourth loss which ended Widener’s run for the playoffs.