Beloit Wins in Shootout

Report will be up for both of today's games later tonight.

Beloit Moves On

Beloit barely earned their bid but they made sure it counted. Having to beat Illinois College the weekend prior in order to extend their season, the Beloit College men’s soccer team came into the Midwest Conference tournament with nothing to lose and everything to prove. A conference that is generally considered a three horse race without much opposition, Beloit brought everything they could muster and took it to the one loss Pioneers.

Beloit’s first match with Carroll ended in a 3-1 Pioneer win. Their second match was an entirely different story.

In today’s game Beloit showed no signs of fear or envy, they simply came to play. I was watching the game with a former Carroll player who has now seen Beloit play three times and both of us could not get over the fact that they (Beloit) looked like a different team; one touch passing throughout the field, good build ups in their attacks, and most importantly, they shut down Andy Prentice.

Every time Carroll attacked Beloit looked to stop Prentice. With Prentice’s game in the bag, the rest of the offense was pretty simple to stop considering they were missing two first team all-conference players in Marc Hietpas and former player of the year Craig Carlson. Defending a one-dimensial team in the conference tournament is a mildly easy task but all credit has to go to Beloit.

Carroll got on the board late in the first half with a long ball over the top that was deflected past the keeper where little-known Kyle Jacobson was there to run down the ball putting it in an open net. The feeling on the Carroll side was not joy; instead it was relief. It was a feeling of, “can we really win with this team?” Going into halftime Beloit knew they had something to prove.

Having the kick off in the second half, Beloit did a simple start with a pass forward where Brian Maunze advanced the ball forward, firing a shot from 30 yards out. Having caught Miaskowski off guard, the rocket shot had perfect dip just under the cross bar and just over the outstretched hands of the Carroll goal keeper.

With the score being 1-1, neither team knew who had the upper hand. A large portion of the half was played in Carroll’s attacking third and with the entry of injured Marc Hietpas, it seemed the winds were changing. Prentice and Hietpas were responsible for over 30 goals in 2008 and were on pace for similar results before Hietpas went down with a serious knee injury. The tandem did not pay off. With all the heart and desire that makes up their play, neither could muster the strength to overcome their respective injuries.

As the final whistle blew, Carroll and Beloit got ready for overtime. With every second that passed, Beloit grew stronger. If they had any fear to open the game, it vanished by the time overtime had come around. Constantly earning second balls and countless 50-50 balls, Beloit was not as interested in going to penalty kicks as they were in beating Carroll outright. Unfortunately for them, they would not get their chance in the OT’s.

Entering penalty kicks, neither team knows what to expect. Carroll had to feel confident in having the best keeper in school history defending their goal and Beloit had to feel confident in having nothing to lose.

As the first five shooters went by, neither keeper could make a save and neither school could miss the side netting. Beloit was in charge 3-2 when Steve Koprowski came up for his shot. With pressure mounting Koprowski shot to his left but Nathan Lipps had a good read catching the ball putting Carroll in serious trouble.

Beloit’s next shooter buried his shot putting the pressure on Andy Prentice to make it or go home. Prentice, walking with a limp, approached the ball and with all the confidence the leading scorer in the MWC should have, buried his shot with a slight ‘ping’ off the post. The score stood at 4-3, Carroll needed a save, Miaskowski needed a save or it was season over for the regular season champions. Silas Connely approached the final shot knowing the stakes; make and they move on, miss and he awakes a sleeping giant.

Connely approached the shot with no fear, no look of nerves or tension. As the referee blew the whistle, Connely fires a shot, Miaskowski reads it perfectly but to no avail, the shot was just inside the post giving Beloit the upset win.

Tomorrow’s match is played between Beloit College and Grinnell College at Carroll University at 4:00pm.