Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

Box Score

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Wesleyan defeated Colby in the quarterfinals of the 2009 NESCAC Men's Soccer Championship, 5-0, Sunday afternoon to advance to the semifinals which the Cardinals will host Saturday, Nov. 7. Wesleyan will face sixth-seeded Middlebury, a 2-1 winner over Amherst in its first-round matchup.

Top-seeded Wesleyan extended its school-record unbeaten streak to 15 games this season with its 11th consecutive victory over Colby, dating back to 2000. Colby’s only win over Wesleyan came when the teams first met in 1978. The teams did not play again until 2000 when the NESCAC round-robin schedule went into effect. Wesleyan posted its 11th shutout of the year, also improving upon its program record.

It took Wesleyan 25:09 of the first period to break into the scoring column but once the Cardinals broke the ice, three goals resulted in a 10-minute span for a 3-0 Cardinal lead. The game-winner came off the foot of junior Geoff Zartarian, who received a corner kick from freshman Ian Waldron just past the left goalpost and blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the net for his third goal of the year. The second goal came from freshman Walter Rodriguez, who collected a serve from senior Nick Whipple behind the Colby defense and beat senior goalie Dan Marden in the 32nd minute. It was his first collegiate goal. He added a penalty kick in the 72nd minute for Wesleyan’s fourth goal after Cardinal freshman Noah Schlesinger was taken down inside the box. Schlesinger had made it 3-0 for Wesleyan in the 36th minute after getting a pass from junior Jacob Levkowicz and sending a bouncing shot into the net. It was his fourth goal of the campaign. The final goal was courtesy of junior Will Mithoefer, who hit the back of the net with a header after a pass from freshman Alec Basseda, in the 81st minute for his opening goal of 2009.

Wesleyan used three goalies in the game with starter Adam Purdy adding to his NESCAC-leading figures by making one save in 77:33 of action. His 0.32 goals-against average also ranks among the top 10 in Division III as does his .926 save percentage. Junior Nigel Stacey and senior Nick Boskovich handled the final 12:27 with one additional save.

Colby forced the Wesleyan defense to equal its goalies in saves as Mule junior Dan Sidman got control of a ball 10 minutes into the second half after a Colby corner kick had been punch out but not cleared by Purdy. Sidman sent a ball toward the right side of the Cardinal goal with Purdy out of position, but sophomore Harrison Lewin cleared the ball away for a team save. Later in the period, freshman Cabell Maddux also was credit with a Wesleyan team save off a good scoring bid by Colby sophomore Josh Lyvers with about 14 minutes to go.

While Wesleyan used an 11-2 edge in total shots to build its 3-0 lead in the first half, Colby outshot Wesleyan 13-9 in the second half but only put four of its 15 attempts on goal. The Cardinals were on target with 12 of their 20 shots.

Colby used two keepers in the contest with Marden playing the first half while posting four saves. Senior Doug Sibor handled the second period with three additional stops.

This was the first time in the 10-year history of the NESCAC tournament that Colby, as the eighth seed, qualified for the post-season. Wesleyan has qualified for the NESCAC playoffs each of the 10 years with a tournament title to its credit in 2005. This will be the first time Wesleyan will host the tournament semifinals and championship.