On November 20, No. 4 Stevens Men’s Soccer defeated No. 19 Johns Hopkins University in their NCAA quarterfinal match at home at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. The teams played to a tie at 1-1, and the game proceeded on penalty kicks, where Stevens scored on five of six penalties while Johns Hopkins only scored four, which sent Stevens to the national semifinals for the second time in program history.
The first half ended scoreless and the teams combined had just four shots with none on goal. However, in the 51st minute, the scoring drought was ended when Tyler White of Johns Hopkins sent a crossing shot on goal that Stevens goalkeeper Justin Cross deflected, but then Jonathan Cui headed the ball into the back of the net.
In the 79th minute, Stevens was given the opportunity to even the score off of a free kick from a John Hopkins foul from 20 yards out. Senior Bruno Andino and junior Dylan Maund shielded the ball, and Andino then drove the ball into the center of the goal for his tenth goal of the year. Eight of Andino’s ten goals have been game-winners, while the other two have forced overtime.
The Ducks also survived a pair of corner kicks in both the final minutes of regulation and the final minute of the second overtime in order to proceed to penalty kicks to decide the outcome of the match.
Sophomore Luca Campbell shot first for Stevens and drove the ball into the center of the net to give Stevens a 1-0 lead. Andino and Maund followed with successful shots, but Johns Hopkins scored on their first three kicks as well, which evened the penalty kicks at 3-3. However, the fourth shooter for Stevens missed, and Johns Hopkins’ Scotty Coleman scored to give them a 4-3 lead.
Next up to kick for Stevens was Gareth Maritz, who had the winning penalty in MAC Freedom Championship, and he struck the ball into the net to even the tally. With a chance to send Johns Hopkins into the semifinals, Tyler White stepped up for his team’s fifth kick chance but missed well over the crossbar.
For Stevens’ sixth kick, Graduate student Dylan Inguardi drove the ball to the lower-left corner of the goal to take back the Ducks’ lead. With Johns Hopkins’ season on the line, Sam Martin took the sixth-round penalty for his team and missed well to the left of the goal, which clinched the victory for Stevens and set off a celebration on the turf that led the entire student section to join the Ducks at midfield.
The draw moved Stevens to 17-0-5 on the year and ended John Hopkins’ season at 15-1-8. Stevens advanced to face No. 2 University of Chicago in the national semifinals on December 1 in Salem, Virginia. Best of luck to the Ducks in the semifinal match!
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