The Principia Men's Soccer team made history on a freezing cold night in front of a full crowd of loyal fans.
Spalding's Kornell Hilliard scored in the 32
nd minute to give the Golden Eagles a narrow 1 goal lead at half time.
But the Principia Men proved once again that they will always fight to the final whistle and they brought the game to Spalding in the second half.
In the 52
nd minute,
Kaleb Keller served a free kick into the box from half field, where
Carson Hussey, the Senior Captain center back, raised above the crowd to flick a header over the goalkeeper into the top left corner (Principia 1 – 1 Spalding). Both teams fought hard, but Principia had the upper hand. Their hard work paid off with 5 minutes left in the game.
Kaleb Keller served another free kick into the box from about 40 yards out, but it was cleared by the Spalding defense. Keller jumped on the rebound, taking one touch, then stroking the ball with the outside of his magical left foot, sending it into the bottom right corner of the goal, past the fully-stretched goalkeeper (Principia 2 – 1 Spalding).
With 3 minutes remaining, Spalding put in one final push with hopes of sending the game to overtime. A Spalding attacker split two defenders and took a shot from just outside the 18-yard box, and for a moment it seemed that the shot was bound for the bottom left corner. But Senior goalkeeper,
Nick Klusmeyer, made the save of the game, diving to his right and holding on to the ball.
With patience, hard work, and quality play from every individual, Principia demonstrated that they were the better team and they earned their spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade.
More news will follow in the coming days regarding the time and location of the first-round NCAA tournament match. Details will be announced on Monday. Below are the Principia Men's All-Conference and All-Tournament selections for the SLIAC 2019 Men's Soccer Season.
SLIAC Regular Season Awards:
First Team All-Conference
Second Team All-Conference
Third Team All-Conference
All-Sportsmanship Team Selection:
SLIAC All-Tournament Selections:
