Nov. 13, 2009

Courtesy of Rollins

WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 13, 2009) – The third time was the charm for the Rollins men’s soccer team as they beat Barry for the first time in three tries this season, downing the Buccaneers 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championship.

With just over three minutes remaining in overtime, J.D. Gruenewald raced down the right sideline to set up the Tars attack. The senior sent a pass to Bradley Welch in the box who then tapped a perfect, behind the back pass to a waiting Daniel Salazar for the game winning strike.

Rollins (17-2-1) advances to play the University of Tampa in the second round Sunday, November 15 at 1 p.m. in Winter Park. UT defeated Lynn 3-1 in the matinee match at Barker Family Stadium and Cahall-Sandspur Field on Rollins’ campus.

“Wow, it’s tough to put that one into words,” said Rollins head coach Dr. Keith Buckley. “We made a lot of chances in the first half, we were just a touch unlucky. As the game went on, it felt more and more like the first two matches against Barry. Our boys did great at getting past that and finally putting it away in overtime.”

The Tars entered the game with the monkey on their backs with Barry handing the Tars their only two losses of the season. The first came in Rollins’ regular season home finale by a score of 2-0. The two schools met again in the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament with the Bucs besting the Tars 1-0.

Rollins showed they were hungry from the outset, putting up five shots in the first 20 minutes, including a Welch try that hit the crossbar. The Tars ended the first half with a 6-3 edge in shots as neither team could find the back of the net.

The second half was a battle in the midfield between the two teams with neither school gaining any ground. The first 90 minutes ended scoreless as no one could capitalize on chances down the stretch and regulation ended scoreless.

“Barry gets a lot of credit for the way they played us and the way they have played the final two weeks of the season,” added Buckley. “We are happy to get past them and now set our sights on Tampa.”

The Rollins and Tampa match Sunday afternoon will be carried live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.