Phillips Keys Men’s Soccer Win Over Baruch in NCAA First Round
Rob Kulish
Highlight | Bracket
HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 16, 2013) – Sophomore midfielder
Colin Phillips (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) tallied the game-winner via a free kick from the top-right corner of the box in the 79th minute to lift the fourth-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer team to an eventual 2-0 win over Baruch College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Saturday night.
Philips assisted Stevens' other goal to finish with three points on the day in an exceptional second-half performance.
The first-round win makes it six-straight years the Ducks have reached at least the Round of 32 in the national tournament and marks the 12th-straight win for Stevens this season (17-1-1). Baruch falls to 12-6-0 in the loss but played a strong match, giving the heavily favored Ducks all they could handle.
"To Baruch's credit, I thought they made it difficult on us," Head Coach
Devin Rensing (Hoboken, N.J.) said after his team's win. "They got numbers behind the ball quickly and it was a tough game."
The clean sheet is the sixth of the season for Stevens' senior goalkeeper
Paul Killian (Ellicott City, Md.), and the 12th of the season for the Ducks as a team.
The game-winning goal for Phillips came after a yellow caution card was given to a Baruch defender. On the play, the Bearcat player took down sophomore forward
Carson Pryor (St. Louis, Mo.) who had a clear lane to the goal. Phillips lined up to take the kick and delivered a hooking shot finding the upper-right-90 of the cage. The score was the eighth of the year for the sophomore.
"We put some freshman legs in at the start of the second which gave us some energy, and we got the goal we needed on a great free kick from Colin (Phillips)," added Rensing.
Stevens' second goal of the game was picture-perfect, and began when senior back
Leonardo Casas (Kearny, N.J.) sprung Phillips along the left side. The sophomore then split a pair of defenders before waiting until the last minute to find a streaking Pryor wide-open in front for the goal. It was the reigning Empire 8 Player of the Year's team-high 14th goal of the season.
Killian made five saves on the night, while Baruch senior Guy Sharev (Ra'anana, Israel) made eight denials in defeat.
Stevens ended the match with an 18-8 margin in shots and had a 4-1 edge in corners.
"After that first goal I thought we managed the game pretty well, but now we put that match behind us and look forward to the next one tomorrow (Sunday) ," reflected the head coach.
Stevens will play the winner of Mount Saint Mary College and York College (Pa.) Sunday at the De Baun Athletic Complex beginning at 5 p.m. All the action can be seen live at
www.Empire8.TV.