M. soccer to Duke it out

One week ago, the men's soccer team was not even sure it would have an opportunity to play in the postseason. After Saturday's dominating performance in a 4-1 dismantling of Adelphi University, however, there is little question about whether the Bears belong in the NCAA tournament.

The only question now is how far they can advance.

Brown moved on to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year with the win Saturday afternoon at Stevenson Field.

The Bears' offense had struggled mightily entering the game, going scoreless in five consecutive halves to end the season on a 1-1-1 skid that threatened its postseason hopes. But on Saturday Brown erupted for three goals over three minutes and 43 seconds around the 34 minute mark of the first half. Andrew Daniels '07 recorded two of those three early scores and completed his first collegiate hat trick early in the second half to ice the game.

"It's fun to score any time in any game, but a hat trick is definitely fun," Daniels said. "I may have had (a hat trick) in indoor during high school, but this is definitely my first collegiate one."

The Panthers came out with some energy early on, controlling the ball in Brown's end of the field to start the game. But the Bears did not panic and eventually swung the momentum in their favor.

"In the tournament, you win or you're out," said midfielder Brian Joyce '07. "We focused on bringing a lot of energy and beating them from start to finish."

It did not take Brown long to strike. In the 11th minute, captain Ben Brackett '07 controlled the ball in the middle of the field. He passed it to Chris Roland '10 who was making a run down the left sideline. Roland dribbled the ball down the sideline almost to the endline and sent a perfect cross to Daniels in the middle of the 6-yard box. The cross passed by one Panther defender and went right to Daniels, who headed the ball into the right corner of the net.

"The center back was looking at Chris the whole time so I snuck behind him," Daniels said. "It was a great ball from Chris and I knew that if I missed it, it would be pathetic."

The first goal opened the floodgates for the Bears, giving Brown the momentum and confidence it would need to put away the Panthers.

"We knew we were capable (of scoring)," Joyce said. "Once Daniels scored that first goal it gave us a lot of confidence."

The Bears stretched their lead to 2-0 just 1:12 later. Joyce played a corner kick from the right side of the field across the 18-yard box that a Bear headed back into the middle of the box. The ball eventually found the feet of Brackett, whose shot was blocked, but the rebound went to Nick Elenz-Martin '10, who poked a shot just over the goal line for Brown's second score of the afternoon.

Daniels struck again two minutes later off another set piece. Joyce played a corner kick from the far side right to Daniels who rose up and headed home his second goal of the match into the back right corner of the net.

"They did a great job of executing," said Adelphi Head Coach Bob Montgomery of the Bears. "They were great on restarts and corner kicks all game."

With the 3-0 lead, Brown was content to sit back and defend for the rest of the half. The Bears had few dangerous rushes over the last 30 minutes of the opening half, but they were able to maintain posession of the ball, limiting their opponent's opportunities.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Daniels completed his hat trick when he played the ball to Ian Premo '07, who was making a run down the right sideline. Premo sent a return pass back to Daniels, who was in the middle of the 6-yard box. Daniels got a head on the ball, but the shot was saved by Panthers' goalkeeper Michael Hurley. However, Hurley could not corral the ball, and the ricochet came right back to Daniels, who kicked the ball into the top of the net to put the game out of reach.

Adelphi ruined Brown's chances of a shutout when it scored off a corner kick with 20 minutes left in the second half, but it was too little too late. Even with the goal, Head Coach Mike Noonan said he was happy with his team's performance. He said it was one of the most complete games the team had played all year.

"It's tough to sustain all that intensity when you go out that big early," he said. "I was really proud of the guys because that's what they did. We did a good job not letting Adelphi back in the game."

The Panthers' frustration boiled over with 10 minutes remaining, when Oliver Skelding tackled Brown forward Dylan Sheehan '09 with his cleats up. The play earned Skelding his second yellow card of the match, resulting in an automatic red card and an ejection. With the play coming directly in front of the Brown cheering section, where the majority of the 1,177 fans were sitting, the Brown fans loudly expressed their displeasure for Skelding as he walked off the field.

He responded by giving them the finger and making another lewd gesture. Adelphi had 37 cards coming into the game and accumulated four more on Saturday. Montgomery even earned a card for dissent.

Just like last year, when Brown downed the University of Rhode Island 2-1 in a first-round contest at Stevenson, it must now face the No. 1 seed in the tournament's second round. Last year, the Bears squared off against the University of Maryland, College Park and played well in a tough 1-0 loss. This year, the Bears will travel to play Duke University Wednesday night in Durham, N.C.