2015 Men's Soccer All-Tournament Team and MVP
Following the Empire 8 Men’s Soccer Tournament and the naming of the Most Valuable Player, the entire 2015 All-tournament team has been announced.
Stevens – Carson Pryor (MVP), Colin Phillips, Harrison Kane, Joe Celliti
Ithaca – Jordan Filipowich, Sean Forward, Sam Boylan
Houghton – Nic Loew, Jacob Dunnett
Elmira – Colin Morrison and Michael Bryant
Pryor was named the tournament MVP as he scored two goals and tallied 16 shots in 3-1 and 1-0 wins over Houghton College and Ithaca respectively. Pryor's goal in the semi was the first goal of the game, while his score in the final was the game's only goal.
Phillips helped power the Ducks offense as he took four shots throughout the tournament
Kane was part of the defensive line that held Houghton to only six shots in the semi and kept Ithaca off the scoreboard in the final.
Celliti tallied the game winning goal of a header in the 73
rd minute. He was able to get the header off before colliding with Houghton’s keeper and forcing him to miss the remainder of the game and the final.
The top-seeded Ithaca team made its second consecutive appearance in the Empire 8 Championship match as the Bombers advanced to the finals after holding off fourth-seeded Elmira College in a shootout
Filipowich was close to netting the equalizer against Stevens in the 78
th minute when he got his head on the ball before it was tipped aside by the Ducks’ keeper. Filipowich was back at it in the final minute of the game when he was able to head another ball, this time off the crossbar.
Forward led the Bombers in shots in both games as he tallied six in the semi and four in the final. In the semifinal, Forward appeared to have the go-ahead goal late in the second frame, but the goal would be disallowed after Ithaca was whistled for offsides.
Boylan scored the 11
th penalty kick in the shootout against Elmira to advance the Bombers to the E8 final for the second straight year. In the title game, Boylan took two shots.
Loew took several shots a span of one and half minutes with his first one clanging off the crossbar and his second blocked by a defender but he quickly collected the defelection and slid a hard shot into the goal to even the game 1-1 in the 36
th minute.
Dunnett had to step up against the top scoring offense in the conference as the Highlanders played without three of their starting defenders. He made several tremendous saves to keep the game tied until Stevens broke through in the final 20 minutes. Dunnett was credited with seven saves.
Morrison and Bryant helped lead Elmira to a postseason tie. The fourth seeded Soaring Eagles battled for 110 minutes of scoreless soccer against top seeded Ithaca. It would take 22 penalty kicks to decide who would advance to the tournament final but Elmira would fall 11-10 in the marathon shootout.