Men’s soccer knocked out of Big East tournament

DANA LEE | STAFF REPORTER
Photo by Jimmy Lafakis

After 90 minutes of regulation play, 20 minutes in overtime and finally a shootout, the Butler men’s soccer team was eliminated from the Big East Tournament by Providence on Sunday. The final score was 3-2, with the Friars winning the shootout 4-2 at the Butler Bowl. The Bulldogs conclude the season with a record of 10-4-4.

Providence’s Mac Steeves scored the first goal of the match in the 11th minute, taking advantage of a Butler turnover. After Butler keeper Eric Dick lost control of the ball, Steeves was able to direct it into an open net, giving his team a one goal advantage. The Bulldogs were unable to respond quickly and trailed 1-0 at halftime. Butler Head Coach Paul Snape said that his team did not play with enough urgency.

“Providence is a really good tournament team. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” he said. “They punished us for being casual.”

The Bulldogs played much better offensively after halftime, with strong possession and offensive opportunities throughout the last 45 minutes of regulation. David Goldsmith scored two goals,  giving Butler a 2-1 advantage. In the 67th, minute, Charlie Constantino found Goldsmith from across the net, where he was able to beat the Friar’s keeper. Goldsmith’s second goal was assisted by Mike Kozielek. Goldsmith’s two scores tie him with Vincent Mitchell for the team lead (11).

 

Despite Butler’s best efforts, Providence tied the game with just 90 seconds left in regulation. A corner kick from Julian Gressel set up Jake Drew for the equalizer, and with score at 2-2, the game headed to overtime.

The Bulldogs had a chance to get the win during the extra time, narrowly missing when Mitchell made a pass to the left of the net where Goldsmith was waiting. The shot was wide, and overtime play continued.

Overtime ended without either team scoring, so the game advanced to a shootout. Providence took keeper Ben Seguljic out of the game and instead used Colin Miller for the shootout. Providence’s Julian Gressel, Klisman Sousa, Dominik Machado, and Tiago Mendonca were able to score on Dick, giving their team a 4-2 shootout win.  Butler’s Jeff Adkins and Jared Timmer provided Butler’s two shootout goals.

The game concluded with seven yellow cards and a total of 46 fouls. Jeff Adkins and Eric Leonard had two shots apiece while Goldsmith led the team with seven. Both teams totaled 15 shots.

Snape said that he expects that his competitive team will have a difficult time dealing with the loss.

“They’ll be really disappointed for a while,” he said. “Some guys will grieve tonight, some guys will grieve next week. We wanted to win so bad.”

Sixth-seeded Providence advances to play second-seeded Georgetown in the Big East semifinals.

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