In a game they had to have, the University of Rochester men's soccer team used three second half goals to power past Case Western Reserve University 3-0 Saturday night in its regular season finale.
UR scored an own goal and got tallies from underclassmen
Jack Thesing and
Andrew Greenway late to put the Spartans away. Rochester ends the regular season 10-3-3, 3-1-3 in the UAA and finishes in fifth place with 12 points. Four UAA teams tied for the conference title with 13 points. Case ends the season 3-14-1 and was 0-7 in the UAA.
Max Eberhardt had the first great scoring chance for UR when he headed a corner kick just high of the Case goal five minutes into the game.
UR had three great chances with in the 38th minute, but an
Alex Swanger shot was blocked,
Andrew Greenway hit the crossbar and Eberhardt's third opportunity was blocked by the Case defense.
Eberhardt nearly made it 1-0 on senior day, but his header with less than two minutes to go in the first half was saved off the line by Case defender Sam Kuehnle.
Rochester controlled possession in the first half but couldn't find the back of the net. In the half, UR outshot the Spartans 6-1 with each team getting one on net.
Case mounted an early charge in the second half, but after Eric Erb's pass found an open Patrick O'Day, the sophomore's shot went just wide of the UR net.
Max Fan had a golden opportunity to give UR the lead at 66:00, but after he broke free from a
Nick Pastore pass, his hard shot missed the net wide.
Less than two minutes later, Swanger crossed a ball into the box that deflected off a Case defender that tried to corral it into the Spartan net for a 1-0 UR lead.
Case nearly got a goal right back, but Ryan Finstad's shot in the 73rd minute deflected off the UR defense and went just wide of the far post.
Swanger nearly doubled the lead and got a goal for himself with 15 minutes to go when he fired a hard shot off the underside of the crossbar. Thesing then finished one off for the Yellowjackets when he tapped in a beautiful cross from freshman Jeff Fafinski. The goal in the 76th minute was Thesing's ninth of the season.
Garfing made a fantastic diving save to keep Case off the board with 4:30 left when he stopped a shot by O'Day.
Greenway put the game away with an insurance tally in the last minute of play. The score was his second of the year.
In net, Garfing made four saves while Spartan keeper Ryan Koepka made one stop. The shutout was Garfing's seventh on the season and was a great way to cap senior day in which he and six other seniors were honored before playing in their last UR regular season game.
The Yellowjacket hopes of making the NCAA tournament now rest on the shoulders of the selection committee as UR looks for a pool C bid into the postseason. The full tournament field will be announced on Monday.
