Montclair, NJ (11/11/06) – Senior midfielder
BILL ANTHES (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) scored in the 18th minute for the game's only goal as Montclair State edged Wesleyan University (CT), 1-0 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship at MSU Soccer Park on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore goalkeeper
NICK MELE ( Delran , NJ /Delran) made three saves in posting his ninth shutout of the season as the Red Hawks now advance to the Sectional Tournament, which will be played either November 17-18 or November 18-19. Dates, times and pairings will be announced on Sunday, November 12.
MSU, which picked up its 20 th victory (20-1) will be making its first appearance in the Sectionals. The Red Hawks are making their seventh appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament overall and first since 1998. It was also the second meeting between the teams and the first since a 2-0 win by Montclair in 1996.
Junior goalkeeper Matt Gnall ( Morristown , NJ /St. Peter's Prep) made one save for the Cardinals, who closed out their season at 11-3-3 . Wesleyan advanced to the second round by beating Baruch College , 5-0 in the first round on Wednesday. The Cardinals were making their second straight and overall appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Anthes, who nearly got the Red Hawks on the board in the first minute of the contest, found the back of the net at the 17:51 mark for his 17 th goal of the season. Freshman Joe Cullen ( Clementon , NJ / Highland ) lofted a throw-in from the left sideline across the box. Anthes picked up the ball and fired a right-footed shot past Gnall inside the right post.
The goal turned out to be the only score of the contest as Gnall made a stop on another Anthes shot at 21:54 and Mele turned away Matt Nevin's (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) attempt at 23:05. Anthes would come within inches of extending the lead with 1:49 to play in the first half, but his shot from 25-yards out banged off the crossbar as the Red Hawks took the one-goal advantage into halftime.
In the second half, the Cardinals stepped up the action and controlled most of the play while holding a 7-2 advantage in shots. Mele made one save against Nick Whipple ( Montclair , NJ / Montclair ) at 53:07 and added his third save with just over 15 minutes to play as he denied Chris Brown ( Boise , ID /Timberline) . But the biggest save for the Red Hawks came from freshman
WILLIAM GRIFFIN ( Bloomfield , NJ /St. Peter's Prep) with 11:21 left in the game.
Off a corner kick from Julian Canzoneri (Newton, MA/Newton South), Jared Ashe (Stamford, CT/Stamford) got off a shot headed toward the left corner of the goal out of Mele's reach. However, Griffin was there to block the ball from going in and Montclair would eventually clear the ball away, keeping its 1-0 lead.
Montclair State held an 11-9 advantage in shots in the game with Wesleyan posted a 7-4 edge in corner kicks.
