Saints Advance to Championship Game

DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com)  Senior Joe Watt (London, England/North West Kent College) scored twice and assisted on the other two goals to give the St. Scholastica men’s soccer team a 4-0 victory over Bethany Lutheran College on Wednesday in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinal at Saints Field.

It didn’t take long for the Saints to get on the board as one minute and 37 seconds into the contest Karl McGurk (Birmingham, England/Arthur Terry School) played a nice long ball to Watt, who beat the keeper from short range to make it 1-0 CSS.

The Saints added to their lead in the 13th minute on a nice build up that featured assists from Watt and Tom Corcoran (Warrington, England/Great Sankey HS, Priestley College) and a finish from Sean Morgan (Belfast, Ireland/St. Patrick’s Grammar School) for his ninth goal of the season. The assist from Watt set the NCAA Division III single-season record for assists in a season as he now stood at 31.

In the 17th minute, Watt played in a corner that was headed by Corcoran and finished by Ryan Cullen (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) to make the score 3-0. Watt, who missed a penalty kick earlier in the half, converted one in the 31st minute to make it 4-0.

The rest of the contest would only see a couple of quality scoring chances from both teams, but nothing to show for it as the Saints advance with a 4-0 victory.

Adam Hewitt (Richmond Hill, Ontario/St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic HS) did not make a save to earn the win for the Saints. Bryan Nyberg (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) played the second half and made two stops. Ryan Bolte started for the Vikings, but had to leave the game 15 minutes in due to injury. Noah Heidorn made nine saves in place of Bolte. The Saints out-shot the Vikings 25-4. Bethany Lutheran’s season ends with an 11-9-0 record.

The Saints (16-2-3) will now face the University of Minnesota Morris for the seventh straight year in the UMAC Tournament Championship on Saturday. Morris defeated the University of Northwestern 2-1 in the other semifinal. Saturday’s contest will begin at 1:30 p.m., meaning the women’s championship vs. Morris will now begin at 11 a.m.