After recovering from an early-season injury crisis, varsity men’s soccer has made 2001 a record-setting season and enters the NCAA Division III championships
The Scots became the second team in MIAC history-along with the 1990 Macalester team-to win the conference with a perfect record, finishing 10-0-0 in the MIAC after last Saturday’s 4-1 win at St. Mary’s.
In Saturday’s win, Kimani Williams ’02 scored two goals, bringing his career total to 57 and breaking the career-goals record set by Mark Aboud ’92.
His season total of 21 is three short of Aboud’s record of 24 set in 1991.
Williams scored off of a stunning overhead kick with his back to the goal after 60 minutes and added another goal after finding a loose ball and applying the finish with five minutes remaining.
After losing games to UC-Santa Cruz and Colorado College on consecutive days, Macalester won the final 11 games of the regular season, the second-best winning streak since the 1990 team ran off 14 wins in a row.
The Scots, who will be playing in the postseason for the seventh time, will host the West Regional playoffs tonight and tomorrow night. Macalester received a first-round bye and will meet the winner of Wednesday night’s matchup of Colorado College (9-5-4) at Whitworth (Wa., 13-4-1) in the second round tonight at 7:30 p.m. On the other side of the regional bracket, Nebraska Wesleyan (17-1) will play the winner of the first-round match when UC-Santa Cruz (14-2-2) plays at Redlands (Ca., 15-3) tonight at 5 p.m.
Williams enters the record books
Williams is making his senior year a memorable one, scoring 21 goals and setting the new career goal scoring record.
It almost seems fitting that Williams would break Mark Aboud’s record. In 1990, the last time the Scots ran the table in the MIAC, it was Aboud who was leading the Macalester attack.
“In my sophomore season, I thought about the record and I knew I had a chance,” said Williams. “Then, in my junior season, I scored 17 goals, and I was just 20 goals shy of the record.”
Williams, as he did last year, is having a dynamic finish to the season. In 2000, Williams scored in Macalester’s final nine games. This season, the Jamaican hitman has scored 10 goals in the team’s final four games.
A clean bill of health
The Scots, who come into the tournament injury-free after their locker room resembled a MASH unit early in the season, are currently on an 11-game winning streak.
Head coach John Leaney points to Macalester’s 5-1 comeback win at Carleton on Oct. 9 as the turning point in the season. The Scots had been able to use their excellent depth, and midfielders Martin Oppenheimer ’02 and Nathan Knox ’04, who had injury problems early in the season, were instrumental in helping Macalester solidify possession of the ball.
Williams scored two goals and added an assist, causing plenty of problems in the Knights’ defense with his exploits on the counterattack.
“In the first half, we had so many injuries that we started 21 different players,” Williams said. “We didn’t have the same starting lineup.”
“Now, everybody’s getting healthy, and you can see the consistency. We started to gel and play as a team.”
Tournament preview
The West Region, although not the strongest of the eight regions in this year’s NCAA Division III Championships, could prove to showcase some of the most exciting soccer in the early rounds of the tournament as the six teams selected are very evenly matched.
Based on their success in the 2001 season and other geographical reasons, Macalester will be hosting the West Regional playoffs tonight and tomorrow night. The Scots will receive a first-round bye and await the winner of Wednesday’s Colorado College at Whitworth (Wa.) first-round game.
Nebraska Wesleyan will also be given a free pass to the second round, where they will meet the winner of the UC-Santa Cruz at Redlands (Ca.) game.
On Sunday night, Macalester, ranked fourth in the West in Monday’s NSCAA/adidas coaches’ poll, received welcome news that they would have home advantage for the second and third rounds. The Scots have not played at Macalester Stadium since Oct. 17 and are counting on their home pitch as well as their faithful and raucous support in the stands to give them an advantage.
A supportive home crowd is “very important” for the Scots’ hopes of winning the region, according to Williams. “We played our last six games away in front of fans that were unfriendly and annoying, with strangers heckling you.”
“I love playing in front of the home crowd, so does the team,” Williams added. “When they’re supportive, even when we’re down, you can’t not be motivated.”
“We were quite pleased to stay at home so that we could play in front of our home crowd,” said Knox.
“We’re at home, with the home crowd, but it’s still anybody’s region,” Leaney said. “It’s so evenly matched, that’s why we can’t figure out who the number one seed is. It could be anyone out of the six.”
Macalester has already played against two other teams in the regional playoffs and the Scots will be looking for revenge if the opportunity presents itself. On a road trip to Colorado College (tenth in the West) on Sept. 21-22, Macalester lost, 2-0, to UC-Santa Cruz (twelfth in the nation, second in the West) on the first day before falling to the hosts, 1-0, the next day. “We’re much more healthy and we’re definitely playing better now,” Leaney said.
Colorado College’s first-round opponent, Whitworth (seventh in the West) defeated UC-Santa Cruz, 1-0, in their first game of the season but has lost three of its last four games. “We don’t know how good Whitworth is, but if they beat Colorado College, we’d have to respect that,” Leaney said.
Redlands (fifth in the West), who in turn defeated Colorado College in two overtimes in their first game of the season, is looking to avenge a 2-0 loss at home to the Banana Slugs of UCSC. The winner faces the tough task of getting past Nebraska Wesleyan, who only has one loss and is ranked first in the West and sixth in the nation.
The winner of the West Regional finals will meet the Central Region champion next weekend. If Macalester advances, they face the possibility of a rematch with UW-Oshkosh (2-1 OT loss, Sept. 7), UW-Whitewater (3-0 win, Sept. 8) or Luther (3-0 win, Oct. 14).
“We’re capable of going to the Final Four with the way the tournament is set up,” Williams said.
