Men's Soccer | 11/14/2013 9:54:00 AM
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McPherson, Kan. – Following a 7-2 conference record, Bulldog soccer was awarded the KCAC No. 2 seed of the postseason tournament and received a bye into the semifinals. After a week of rest, Mac will begin the push for a National tournament bid as they square off against No. 3 Tabor College on November 15
th at 1:30 p.m. (CT) on the pitch at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka, Kansas.
MC finished the regular season on a 7-1 run with their lone loss coming to Sterling College on Senior Day; the other KCAC defeat came to top-seeded Kansas Wesleyan on the opening day of conference play. The 'Dogs went 3-5 in games against non-league opponents in one of the most difficult schedules created; the squad played five top-30 ranked teams, two of which are currently in the top-10.
The team leader is senior Johnny Nuthall who has just been crowned the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player and Offensive-Player-of-the-Year. He has 33 points to his name this season with 15 goals and three assists. Transferring in as a junior, Nuthall immediately made his name known, scoring 12 times which topped the team and earned him conference OPoY honors.
The "quarterback" of McPherson soccer this season has been Oscar Cortez as the junior is the engine that makes the team run. Garnering First Team All-KCAC honors for the second-straight year, Cortez appeared in all 17 games this season, totaling 10 points on three goals and four assists.
Rafael Fuentes was the third member of the Bulldogs to make the all-conference first team. Four others received some sort of All-KCAC recognition on Wednesday with goalkeeper Taylor Parrott making the second team and Nick Torres, Danny Calleja, and Octavio Villa grabbing honorable mention slots.
This season MC soccer has used its high-octane offense to out shoot and score their opponents; they've tallied 316 shots and 37 goals compared to 200 and 26 by the 17 teams they've played. They're logging 2.18 goals a game, placing over eight balls on frame an outing; the shots to shots on goal percentage rests at 44.0%
The winner of Friday's contest will face the team that comes out on top between No. 1 Kansas Wesleyan and No. 4 Bethany College which is played prior to the Mac vs. TC game. The championships match will be played on Saturday, November 16 at 2:00 p.m.
Scouting Tabor
The Blue Jays have been on the rise over the past few seasons. After ending the year towards the bottom of the conference in 2010, they have posted 5th, 2nd and 3rd place finishes. This season, TC boasts a 12-5-2 overall record, 5-2-2 in conference.
Thanks to playing a few lighter opponents, Tabor has scored 46 times in their 18 game regular season. They have taken 371 shots, placing 171 on target; 175 of those were taken against KCAC teams.
KCAC Freshman-of-the-Year Bransyn Felty leads the Jays in goals with 13 this season and has 29 points with his three assists added in. Philipp Wahl and Alberto Checa each have scored seven times; Wahl has also made five assists for 19 points.
Goalie Antoine Williams has played all but 20 minutes of the 2013 season for Tabor, logging nearly 1800 minutes between the pipes. He has surrendered 22 goals while making 85 saves in 19 matches.
McPherson and Tabor collided back on October 23rd. The 'Dogs won the 2-1 contest as Villa scored twice with the game winner coming in the second overtime. MC took 19 shots to Tabors 22 and the Blue Jays also led the shots on goal statistic with 11 to Mac's eight; the lone goal for TC came off the boot of Felty.
