DeLand, Fla. - On a night when Stetson scored a pair of impressive goals, it was the defense that led the way to a 2-0 win over Mercer at the Stetson Soccer Complex. Defenders Robert Hodge (Devon, England), Ryan Corning (Ponte Vedra, Fla.), Dan Sackman (Hampshire, England) and Matt Hoskins (Marietta, Ga.) held off the hard-charging Bears and gave Stetson its sixth shutout of the season.
"This was a very tough game", said Hatters Head Coach T. Logan Fleck. "They worked very hard to create goal opportunities. We bent, but we did not break."
Stetson goalkeeper Logan Potter (Merritt Island, Fla.) made a pair of saves en route to his seventh career shutout.
"Potter played well tonight, but he would be the first to say that his teammates in front of him deserve most of the credit", said Fleck. "The back four, as well as our midfield played well both ways. Giulio D'Amore was great defensively and, coming off his injury, Set Carpintero played with a heart bigger than Dallas".
"The entire team got in behind the ball to keep the clean sheet," he added.
Stetson came out strong and controlled the play for the majority of the first half. After several scoring opportunities the first goal came in the 32nd minute. Kevin Munz (Jupiter, Fla.) and Carpintero worked the ball through the middle with a combination of one-touch passes. When the ball ended up at the feet of Fredrik Brustad (Oslo, Norway) he let loose with a line drive blast to the right side that gave the keeper absolutely no chance for a save. It was the third goal in the past four games for last week's A-Sun Offensive Player of the Week.
At the break Stetson led Mercer 13-5 in shots. In the second half the Bears returned the favor with an 11-8 advantage. The Hatters' defense, however, was equal to the challenge.
With the teams battling back and forth and the game still in question late, Stetson delivered a knockout blow in the 84th minute. Stetson's top scorer Griffin Gilstrap (Safety Harbor, Fla.) picked up his ninth goal of the season after a give-and-go with Munz on a counter attack resulted in a premium scoring chance. It was the team-leading 8th assist of 2009 for Munz.
"Offensively I am really proud of the fact that all our forwards, Freddy, Grif, Mendoza and Munzy did a good job continually looking for the best opportunity to score", said Fleck.
Stetson's win combined with a Campbell loss at FGCU elevated the Hatters back into a first place tie with the Camels in the A-Sun standings with a week left to play in the regular season.
Prior to its conference finale against FGCU next Sunday in DeLand (4:00 p.m.), Stetson will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. Wednesday and take on the University of North Carolina. The Tar Heels, who reached the national championship match at the 2008 College Cup, are ranked fourth in the nation in this week's NSCAA poll.
"We are looking forward to facing a team of such high quality", said Fleck. "It is a chance to push ourselves to the next level."
