Jarosz's two-goals lift Sage to ECAC Finals
Elmira, NY---The Sage Colleges men's soccer team has advanced to the finals of the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference Upstate Men's Soccer Division III Tournament after posting a 2-0 win over No. 4 seeded Cazenovia on Saturday afternoon. The win will pit top seeded Sage against the second seeded Golden Eagles of Elmira College in the championship match at noon on Sunday.
Tournament Held at Elmira College
November 10
#1 Sage def. # 4 Cazenovia, 2-0
#2 Elmira def. #4 SUNY-Canton, 3-1
November 11
#1 Sage vs. # 2 Elmira, Championship Game, Noon
The Gators improve to 13-5-1 after they tallied a 2-0 win over Cazenovia as junior forward Scott Jarosz (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) connected on the two goals on Saturday for Sage. The first at 2:23 on a pass from sophomore midfielder Gustavo Trinidad (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) gave Sage a 1-0 lead and would be the game-winner for the Gators.
Jarosz gave the team a 2-0 lead with his second goal of the contest at 29:15. Jarosz continues his personal-best campaign as he is also adding to both school single-season and career scoring marks along the way. Jarosz leads the Gators with his 21 goals and 42 points this season, while tallying four game-winning goals. Overall on his career, he has elevated his resume to include 30 goals and 61 career points, while recently collecting honors as a 2012 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team honoree and a 2012 Capital One CoSIDA Men's Soccer Academic All-District Team member.
Trinidad leads the team with his seven assists and is now in second in the scoring race for the Gators with his 13 points on 3 goals and 7 assists.
In goal for the Gators, freshman TJ Zehner (Beacon, NY/Beacon) had seven saves en route to his sixth shutout of the season. He is now 11-4-1 in goal for Sage with an impressive record with five shutouts. He has a .083 GAA and a .843 saves percentage in 17 games played.
For head coach Kyle Clancy, the 2012 tournament championship appearance is a first for the program, which appeared in the ECAC's a year ago, but did not advance to the finals. The 2012 Gators have set new high-water marks for most wins in a season (13), while also making the squad's third straight post-season appearance as well. The team is ranked No. 36 in scoring offense with a 2.59 goals per game average, while ranking 45th with their 44 goals this fall. In addition, the team is 51st in total points with 123, while ranking 56th in win percentage (.735).
Sunday's championship game is a re-match of a regular-season match-up on October 7 at Elmira. In that game, Sage came from behind to record a 2-1 win as Jarosz netted both goals for the Gators in the action.