UMass Falls to Ohio State

Cinderella Season Ends with 1-0 Loss to Buckeyes

December 14, 2007

By Nick Williams

CARY, N.C. -- The clock struck midnight for the UMass men's soccer team Friday, ending the Cinderella-story of the 2007 College Cup with a 1-0 loss to Ohio State in the NCAA semifinals at SAS Soccer Park.

The Minutemen (17-8-1) were able to enter halftime scoreless despite being drastically outplayed by the No. 5 team in the country. But in the end, after Eric Edwards popped a 53rd-minute, third-chance rebound past Zach Simmons, effectively ending the game with 37 minutes to play, the Buckeyes proved to be too big, too strong, too fast.

"My hat goes off to Ohio State," said UMass coach Sam Koch, who in his 17th season at the helm, took the Minutemen the furthest they've been in program history. "They were big, strong and fast. They played a great game.

UMass

UMass defender Billy Collins battles for a ball in Friday's season-ending 1-0 loss to Ohio State. (Photo credit: Associated Press)

"They really moved the ball well in the first half. I give them a ton of credit. They play very well -- as well as any team we've played against in the past six games."

And UMass hasn't had a cupcake schedule. After finishing the season with the most wins in school history, the Minutemen took down conference rival Rhode Island in the Atlantic-10 Championship before stringing together a miraculous stretch of tournament victories against Boston University, No. 1-seed Boston College, Central Connecticut and Illinois-Chicago.

"I think this team did an incredible job this year," said Simmons. "Obviously to make it to the Final Four, no matter what team you are, takes a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work. This group of guys this year has definitely lifted this program to a new level and hopefully raised expectations for this program."

It was Simmons who lifted UMass Friday. The redshirt junior keeper (six saves) kept the score close and was the main reason UMass was still in the game after the first 45 minutes.

Ohio State showed some early flair when Doug Verhoff nearly scored on a bicycle kick in the 14th minute. Steven Traeger rushed down the left side of the UMass defense and sent a cross in to Verhoff, who executed the kick nicely only to have the ball go just high of the net.

Four minutes later, the Buckeyes' Matt Gold and Geoff Marsh pulled off a pretty give-and-go down the right sideline, the play culminating on a Gold cross from the corner that found Andrew Magill in front of the net. Magill's point blank attempt was stopped by Simmons.

Simmons again came up big when he saved a Roger Espinoza head ball at the 20-minute mark. UMass' all-time shutout leader was forced to make another stop on a Magill header just a minute later, although he may have benefited by some poor placement from Magill, who was only about eight yards off goal when he sent a head ball right into the mitts of Simmons.

"We expended a tremendous amount of energy in the first half -- we were all over them," said Ohio State coach John Bluem, who'll lead his team to its first-ever College Cup final Sunday against Wake Forest. "I thought we should have been ahead a couple goals if it wasn't for their goalkeeper."

"Zach Simmons played outstanding," said Simmons' counterpart, Buckeyes' goalie Casey Latchem. "He really kept his team in it. He was the heart and soul of that team today."

The Minutemen had a tough time staying with Espinoza all night, no matter who was marking him. The junior midfielder cut a swath through the UMass defense in the waning minutes of the first frame before he was taken off the ball by the last Minuteman defender. And when the Buckeyes finally broke through, it was Espinoza again who was prominently involved.

Danny Irizarry sent Xavier Balc in alone on Simmons, who stuffed him with an NHL-esqe kick save. Simmons then made a spectacular play to get a hand on the rebound bid from Espoinoza, but the ball once again found the foot of an Ohio State striker, with Edwards depositing the ball just under the crossbar for a 1-0 Buckeye lead.

"He just roofed it," said Simmons. "It was a good finish."

"It wasnt a clean goal," said Bluem. "I think it was a rebound knocked down, but it gave us what we needed and, to their credit, they never quit. Massachusetts kept coming at us and made life very, very difficult until the end."

Douglas Rappaport gave UMass its first solid shot on frame in 54th minute, but his attempt was handled easily by Latchem for one of his three saves.

Rappaport had a hand in the next UMass chance seven minutes later when he bent a corner kick on target that forced Latchem to punch the ball out. The ball landed square on the foot of Stuart Amick, whose booming kick went high and wide.

Chris Brown's flick of a free kick with 18 minutes left looked like it could cause some havoc, but Latchem snatched the ball out of the air before a UMass striker could put another head on it.

"On this day, I think Ohio State was better," said Koch. "They got the goal, and we didn't."

Simmons kept the deficit at one when he made an acrobatic save on an Espinoza head ball with just under 10 minutes remaining. But the Minutemen weren't able to generate much of a scoring threat in the last minutes of the frame, a fact Koch credited to Ohio State's superior size, strength and speed.

"[If we made] every Ohio State player wear a backpack with about 40 pounds in it, that might have slowed them down," he said. "Maybe we could have broken their rhythm."

And even if the Minutemen were outplayed for most, if not all, of the game, the players, specifically the seniors, maintained that after the run they've been on, they have no regrets.

"I'm not really disappointed with what we did today," said senior back Kenny Cook. "Obviously we didn't get the result we wanted, but I'm very proud of our group of guys. We gave it everything we got today on the field. We worked our hearts off. We worked hard out there and that's all you can ask for."

"I'm extremely proud of this group," Koch added. "I'm a very happy person to be able to coach these guys. In all my years of coaching, this has been a special time for me.

"I'll never forget it."

Return from UMass Falls to Ohio State to College Soccer

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