Rochester defeated Carnegie Mellon University, 2-1, at Fauver Stadium on Sunday afternoon to clinch the UAA title and the automatic NCAA playoff ticket that goes with it.
The victory gave Rochester a 6-0 record in the UAA and 18 points. Carnegie Mellon has 12 points with one game left. Emory, which Rochester beat on Friday evening (also 2-1) had nine points going into a Sunday meeting at Case Western Reserve. The best either team can do is earn 15 standings points. Carnegie visits Emory next Saturday on travel partner weekend. Rochester closes with Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.
It has been a stellar weekend for the Yellowjackets. On Friday night, they rallied for two dramatic goals in a 10-minute span of the second half to defeat Emory, 2-1, after trailing, 1-0, at halftime.
This match had plenty of offensive opportunity right from the start. CMU, which had a seven-match winning streak heading into today, sent waves of attackers goalward from the opening whistle. On the first rush downfield, the Tartans earned a corner kick. Daniel Mastalski swerved the corner kick dangerously through the goalmouth before it was cleared.
Just 1:28 into the match, Jordan Esten launched a shot from straight on more than 30 yards from goal. It got over the head of Paco Corbalan but smacked against the crossbar.
Rochester's first offensive foray produced a goal at 3:08. Jeremy Goico picked off a short clearance, sidestepped a defender on right wing, then drove into the penalty area where he hit a low right-footer into the left hand corner of the net as CMU goalkeeper Matthew Bazin charged off the line to try and cut down the angle.
CMU got even at 10:16. The Tartans earned a throw-in along the left sideline 12 yards off the endline. Daniel Brackley's throw sailed through the goalmouth where the Yellowjacket defense missed a clearing header. The ball was headed into the right side of the net by Matt Wilkinson.
Rochester's gamewinning goal came from a familiar source - senior forward Nate Micklos. A corner kick by Nick Mikolenko was hammered along the edge of the crease from the right corner. Micklos got a step on his marker, cut inside, and headed the ball the other way - to nestle in the left side of the net at 23:39. It was his 14th goal of the season.
The Rochester defenders - Bobby Milenovici, Mikolenko, Steve Maltzman, and Eric Meister - were superb all afternoon long constantly keeping the ball out of the area. When CMU did attack into the box, Corbalan and his defense were able to thwart it.
A massive challenge faced the defense with just over 13 minutes left in the opening half. CMU was awarded an indirect free kick from 14 yards out, slightly to the left of the penalty spot. All 11 Rochester players formed a defensive wall with Corbalan in the center. Mastalski took the free kick, slamming it into the wall and Sean Filipovitz hammered the rebound over the crossbar.
Early in the second half, then late in the match, the Tartans had two good chances for an equalizer. Esten's shot 10 minutes after the restart was deflected for a corner kick. With less than nine minutes to play, one shot was blocked and Jonathan Browne, CMU's leading scorer, turned with the rebound eight yards from goal. He shot wide of the left post.
Rochester improved to 15-0 overall. The 15 victories tie the single season record originally set by the 1986 team (which was the first Yellowjacket team to earn an NCAA Division III post-season bid). Rochester has won five consecutive ECAC Upstate New York titles.
CMU is 12-2-1 overall, 4-2 UAA.
