Goshen, IN — When the Goshen College men’s soccer team hosts the University of St. Francis in the first round of the Mid-Central Conference Tournament Saturday night at the Goshen College Soccer Complex, very little will be unfamiliar to either side.
After all, Saturday will be the fourth time in four years that the teams have hooked up in post-season play.
Third-seeded Goshen (9-6-2, 5-3) hosts sixth-seeded St. Francis (8-9-1, 4-4) for a 7 p.m. match Saturday evening, equaling the third straight MCC Tournament-opening event between the squads. Thus far, it has been Goshen that has gotten the better end of the deal, moving past USF in each of the last three post-season meetings. Seventh-year head coach Tavi Mounsithiraj knows that trend means very little for Saturday’s contest, however, as his team is on high alert.
“St. Francis always brings a very good side to the pitch,” Mounsithiraj said. “We have been very, very fortunate to survive in quite a few of our recent matches with them. They obviously are good enough to beat us, and we’ll need to play our best soccer.”
St. Francis dealt Goshen one of the team’s three MCC regular-season losses this year, handing Mounsithiraj and company a 3-1 defeat in Fort Wayne on Sept. 26 (click here for related article).
That was the first Cougars win over Goshen in the last four seasons, however, as the Leafs had rattled off six straight against St. Francis — including three wins in the post-season — from the 2004 to 2006 seasons.
Goshen was able to eek past the Cougars in a 1-1 tie, 4-2 penalty-kick decision in last year’s MCC Tournament opener (click here for article). The Leafs handed USF a 2-1 loss to end the regular season in 2005 and capture the MCC Co-Championship in Fort Wayne (click here for article), only to turn around seven days later and defeat the Cougars by a 2-0 score in the first round of the MCC Tournament (click here for article).
The Leafs advanced to the 2004 MCC Tournament Championship after beating St. Francis by a 2-1 score in the semi-finals.
Those three post-season meetings — all occurring at Goshen — are the only tournament meetings between USF and Goshen under Mounsithiraj’s watch as head coach.
“There is history between us, no question,” Mounsithiraj said. “It’s funny how it has worked out over the last four years, and we always find a way to meet each other. I know it’s a fun thing for our older guys, though, because you really develop a good rivalry that way. Saturday is a big, big game for both programs.”
Goshen College student life is again extending a gratuitous offer to fans, granting free admission to the first 100 Goshen College students through the gate. As an MCC post-season event, all other students will have to pay $2 to enter the complex. Admission for adults is $5 apiece.
“We are grateful to play in front of our awesome home fans at least one more time this year,” Mounsithiraj said. “I’m sure it will be a great environment, as usual. Our fans are the absolute best.”
|
Senior Tony Janzen