SUWANEE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference opened its 32nd season of men's soccer (College Athletic Conference 1962-1990) over the past week. The league as expected had a strong showing with a combined record of 21-8 (.724) highlighted on Sunday afternoon as BSC Head Coach Preston Goldfarb got his 300th career win with a 3-0 win over Mississippi College.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College opened the 2009 season with a pair of losses to the University of Dallas and LeTourneau, falling 2-1 on a pair of late goals to UD and 4-2 to LeTourneau. Against UD, the ‘Roos struck first when Alex Dawson scored on a feed from Mike Cline, but the Crusaders scored a pair of second half goals to give AC the loss. Against LeTourneau, the YellowJackets scored twice in the game’s first six minutes and the ‘Roos were unable to claw their way back despite goals from Andy Johnson and Chris Melton, who scored on feeds from Dawson and Lincoln Kendall. Despite falling twice, the ‘Roos actually outshot their two opponents 37-28 and held a 12-9 advantage in corner kicks. The ‘Roos next face off against Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday.

Birmingham-Southern - Coach Preston Goldfarb got his 300th career win this afternoon in the final game of the 2009 Birmingham-Southern Labor Day Classic. The Panthers (2-0) defeated Mississippi College (2-1) 3-0 to remain unbeaten on the young season. The win was certainly not an easy one for the Panthers. Both teams kept the ball moving up and down the pitch for the first eleven minutes with neither team able to break away and get a good shot at the goals. Tyler Evans finally broke the stalemate in the 12th-minute when he connected from a Tony Crocker feed to put the Panthers up 1-0. The Panthers held to that slim lead into the half. Evans' goal was the only offense of the game even deep into the second half. Finally, early in the 60th-minute, Garner Shivers broke the defense and connected off the feed from Nicholas Reitmeier to give BSC an insurance goal. It was Evans who put the final nail in the Choctaws' coffin in the 69th-minute to complete coach's 300th. The Panthers will be off the rest of this week before they head up to Sewanee to play in the Kyle Rote Jr. Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.

Centre opened the season with a 1-0 loss at home against Spalding University of the SLIAC. The Colonels then made the trip to Lexington, KY to for their second straight season in the Glenn Hyundai Showcase hosted by Transylvania University. The Colonels dropped a heart-breaking 3-2 OT decision to Kenyon College on Saturday, before rebounding for a 2-1 victory over Wittenberg University on Sunday for their first win of the season. Centre, 1-2-0, takes on Mount Saint Josephs at home on Tuesday night before hosting the 20th Annual Bob Allen Nissan Classic over the weekend, with games against Wilmington College and Berry College.

Colorado College goalkeeper Brian Engle recorded his seventh career shutout against Fontbonne University, the third by a 1-0 score. Brendan Douglas recorded his second career game-winning goal against the Griffins. He also set up a pair of game winners last season. Jordan Reese set up the game-winning goal on a corner kick for the fourth game-winning assist of his career. He also has four game-winning goals. Matt Fechter earned a start in his first collegiate game and launched three shots. Colorado College has won its season opener six years in a row and has posted shutouts in four of the last five. The 2-0 loss to UT-Dallas marked the first time in Engle’s career he has allowed more than one goal in a game. The Tigers were shut out in all three losses of his career. Head coach Horst Richardson needs just three victories to reach 500 for his career, all at Colorado College. The Tigers face their only Division II opponents of the season on Tuesday night when they play host to cross-town rival CU-Colorado Springs under the lights at Washburn Field.

For the second straight year DePauw opened the season with a pair of shutout wins as they blanked Elmhurst on Saturday, 2-0, and Alma, 3-0, on Sunday. In the Elmhurst win, Christopher Lee scored the game's first goal at 25:42 before Brad Kean knocked in the second goal after Jent Botterman's first shot bounced off the post with just 2:21 remaining in the game. Each team recorded 13 shots and totaled five corners. Ted Jacobi recorded the shutout in goal for the Tigers after posting six saves. In the win over Alma, DePauw scored all three of its goals in the first half as Beau Sorg put the Tigers on the board at 18:22 with a penalty kick after Alma was whistled for a hand ball in the box. Kreigh Kamman followed with a score at 30:32 on Jent Botterman's assist and Chris Talijan wrapped up the scoring at 42:36 on Brad Kean's assist. DePauw outshot Alma, 9-2, and held a 3-2 edge in corners. Nathan Sprenkel posted the shutout and totaled two saves.

Hendrix completed its best start to a season in over 10 years by defeating East Texas Baptist University in a 3-2 double overtime thriller on Friday and then taking down Louisiana College in a 10-1 pounding on Saturday. The Warriors tied their 2008 season goal total (13) in their 2009 opening weekend and first year Connor Silvestri (five goals) outscored Hendrix’s 2008 leading scorer, senior Will Brown (three goals), in his first two collegiate matches. Silvestri headed the Warriors’ golden goal against ETBU off a free kick from sophomore Colin Thompson two minutes into the second overtime. First year Grant Womack initiated the free kick when he was taken down 25 yards off the left side of the goal. Silvestri then posted a four-goal thriller against Louisiana, while sophomore Duncan Keegan had a hat trick and two assists in the lopsided affair. Silvestri had his hat trick within the first 22 minutes. Keegan scored three-straight goals to start the second half.

Millsaps is off to its first 3-0 start in school history after taking down Louisiana College, the University of Dallas and Rust during the week – all on the road. A total of eight different Majors scored a goal during the stretch, led by freshman Brandon Guichard with three and four other players with two. In net, sophomore Dylan Broussard went 2-0 with seven saves and a .700 save percentage. Millsaps will host LeTourneau University at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Jackson, before going back on the road for its next three contests.

Oglethorpe won two out of three contests this week to begin the season 2-1. In Tuesday’s opener, the Petrels got goals from Jimmy Harter and Ben Robertson and assists from Casey Sheppard and Bryan Burnick to help top Brewton Parker, 2-1. Over the weekend, Oglethorpe participated in the Sonny Carter Invitational hosted by Emory and recorded a second place finish based on goal differential. The Petrels got a goal from Nick Harris off a feed from Ben Robertson in only the game’s second minute on Saturday to edge out Southern Wesleyan, 1-0. The Petrels took their first loss of the season on Sunday when several equalizing chances in the final minute versus the Ozarks went awry and Oglethorpe fell, 2-1. The Petrels did manage a goal from transfer E.J. Ovie-Ogodo in the loss. At 2-1 on the season, Oglethorpe prepares to face Piedmont at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Rhodes opened their season with two solid victories this weekend. On Saturday, the men faced an athletic Rust College, coming away with a 15-2 win. The 15 goals were scored by Nick Bailey, Michael Rubin, Christian Kurth, Logan Eberly, Petar Radujkovic, and Allen Orgeron. Zach Fernberger started in net for the Lynx but was relieved by Justin Stradley late in the first half due to an ankle injury. On Sunday, the men were in top form against the University of Dallas. Eric Stradley, Zac Berry, and Michael Pappas each tallied one goal to contribute to the 3-1 victory, and Zach Fernberger played the full game in goal for the Lynx. The men look to keep the momentum going this weekend with games Friday and Sunday games at Principia College and Washington University, respectively.

Sewanee opened its 2009 season at the Birmingham-Southern Invitational this weekend and after a 3-0 loss to Mississippi College, rallied for a 6-0 shutout of Blackburn College. The Tigers led 5-0 at the half. Jackson Gannaway (Collierville, Tenn., Collierville) and Garrett Schlosser (Nashville, Tenn., MLK) led the Sewanee effort on Sunday with two goals apiece. Matt Hale (Ft. Worth, Texas, All Saints) and Chris Grover (Collierville, Tenn., St. George's) split time in the goal for Sewanee to earn the shutout. Sewanee is now at .500 with a 1-1 record and will host the annual Kyle Rote Jr. Invitational next weekend and will face off against Emory and Henry and Washington and Lee.

Southwestern opened the season on a tear through the ASC conference as they have started 3-0 in 2009 with two shutouts in the three games. SU opened with an away match at Texas Lutheran University where they held the Bulldogs to no goals on 10 shots. Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Pierce look impressive in his first collegiate start recording five saves to shutout TLU 4-0. Friday saw the Pirates faceoff against the Patriots of the University of Texas-Tyler at home in the second game of the Conference Challenge. One goal was all SU needed for the win as the game was cut short due to lightning shortly after sophomore MF Throp Arandela found the back of the net after a well place throw-in by Alex Keller to give SU the 1-0 win. Mary Hardin-Baylor was the next to take on SU in the final game of the Conference Challenge on Saturday. SU dominated play as they took 15 shots in the game to UMHB’s four. UMHB scored in the first half, but the second half was a much different story as SU found the back of the net twice within two minutes of each other and then dug their heels in defensively to take the 2-1 victory. Southwestern will continue to work their way through the ASC as they head to Abilene, TX over the weekend to face the University of Texas-Dallas on Friday at 2:00pm and host school Hardin-Simmons on Saturday at 5:00pm.

No. 5 Trinity opened the season with a 2-1 record this past week, bouncing back with two straight wins after an upset loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor to start the season. The Tigers scored wins over Texas Lutheran and UT-Tyler in Georgetown, Texas, over the weekend.
Trinity had not lost its opening game since 1998, and had not lost a regular season home game since the 2001 season. Ben Grossman has scored a goal in each of the first three games – including two game-winners – and Josh Adams knocked in a pair of scores against UT-Tyler on Saturday. Goalkeeper Patrick Johnson recorded his first shutout of the season – he tallied five in 2008 – and has six saves in the first three games. Trinity will continue its six-game stint of road games this weekend, traveling to Abilene, Texas, to face Hardin-Simmons University and the University of Texas-Dallas. Last season, the Tigers beat HSU 4-1 and UTD 3-1, and both games were played in San Antonio.

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