<ther week has passed and the men’s soccer team has added yet another pair of wins to their overall record. The Knights started out the week by welcoming UW-Platteville to Bell Field on a chilly Saturday afternoon. The two teams met twice last year, with the Knights coming away with two 1-0 wins. This year’s matchup yielded the same result, as Ryan Cammarota ’12 scored his first goal of the season with only minutes remaining in the second half.
Despite numerous chances in the second half, the Knights were not able to convert until a beautifully constructed give-and-go in the Platteville box between Tim Wills ’12 and Cammarota lifted the Knights to the home win.
On Wednesday, the Knights travelled to St. Thomas in a crucial MIAC matchup. The Knights and St. Thomas remained the only teams with only a single loss in conference play heading into the game. The first ninety minutes of play results in extremely physical play, but very few scoring chances from either side.
The Tommies’ best opportunity came with a minute left in the first half when a header hit off the crossbar before being cleared by the Carleton defense. The Knights’ defense shutdown a talented Tommie offense throughout the entire afternoon thanks to the strong play and leadership of seniors Ross Hamilton ’10, Lyndon DeSalvo ’10 and Robert Carleton ’10.
The first overtime brought a similar result as neither team was able to convert on any other of their chances, despite several excellent offensive efforts by Wills. With a matchup that looked like it was headed for a 0-0 tie, the Knights were able to break through with 11 seconds left in the second overtime to earn a win.
Wes Elfman ’11 played a ball to Wills at half field who held the ball and turned before playing a streaking Elfman in on goal. Elfman took a touch past the goalkeeper and finished off the goal to give the Knights their MIAC leading seventh win on the campaign.
The win brings the Knights’ record to 10-3 (7-1 MIAC) with only two games remaining in the conference season. The win also helped the Knights clinch their third consecutive MIAC playoff birth. This week the team travels Saturday night to face Augsburg for a rematch of last year’s conference championship. On Tuesday, the Knights host their last regular season home game against Northwestern College at 4 pm.