Box Score

WALTHAM, MA (November 10, 2012) – Junior goalkeeper Ryan Grimme made four incredibly challenging saves in the Vassar College men's soccer shutout win over Tufts University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Saturday evening at Brandeis University.

Senior defender Zander Mrlik scored the game-winning goal in double overtime off a penalty kick. Jumbos player Luke Booth committed a foul on senior Dante Varotsis inside of Tufts box in the first minute of the second overtime. The foul silenced the stadium and sent Mrlik to the line. Mrlik's shot went left as Tufts goalkeeper Wyatt Zeller went right and resulted in an eruption of cheering as Vassar fans charged the field for Vassar's first NCAA Tournament win since 1999.

The Brewers (13-4-3) will play again tomorrow against host Brandeis University (17-2-1) at 5:00 pm. Brandeis defeated Baruch College 2-0 in today's earlier game. “They're from the UAA and that alone shows that they are a tough team,” Grimme said. “They are one of the top ten teams in the country but if we play to our potential, we can hang with them and any team in the country especially since we were obviously thought of as a team that deserved to be here.”

The first half looked in favor of Tufts with the majority of play happening in front of the Brewers' goal. Vassar opened up offensive chances of its own, especially with long throw-ins from senior Mrlik and long passes from junior defender Jake Rabin.

Grimme made two remarkable diving saves in the first half with one of them off a one-timer from a Tufts forward to the right side of the goal. “Grimme is the real hero here,” Mrlik said with his arms around his teammate and friend. “If it wasn't for his saves and communication in the first half, things could have gone differently.” The Brewer defense was tested hard in the first half, but stayed consistent and forced a 0-0 score at the end of the first half.

“The first half caught us off guard when they [Tufts] came out of the gate a lot faster and harder than us," Grimme said. "The defense and I were focused on weathering the storm at that point and I feel like we did that. “The second half was a much better performance from our team, but there were still some very distracting and anxious moments in the game. It really goes to show how much of a defensive team performance this win was with our forwards dropping back to help and everyone covering the whole 120 yards of the field.”

The Brewers opened up a strong scoring chance in the 45th minute when sophomore Nick Hess threw a long ball in front of the Tufts box and Mrlik sent a low header narrowly to the right of the goal. Just four minutes later, Varotsis and sophomore Tom Wiechert created an offensive rush ending in a saved header.

Casey Rice, Juliano Pereira, Jordan Palmer and Wiechert spent most of the second half upsetting the Tufts defense by intercepting passes, causing breakaways and forcing corner kicks.

With 15 minutes left in the second half, Vassar almost saw the first goal of the game when Hess sent a shot towards the crossbar from 25 yards out. The shot sailed over the crossbar by inches. In the 84th minute of play, sophomore Justin Mitchell took a corner kick that resulted in a scramble in front of the net. prompting three headers from Vassar players.

Despite the offensive pressure Vassar placed on Tufts in the second half, the Jumbos defense forced a first overtime that saw no shots and a second overtime where Mrlik scored his fifth goal of the year. “I love pressure situations,” Mrlik said. “When I saw that Dante made a great play by getting past the defense -- and it was a legit penalty --  but as the senior captain I wanted to take the responsibility on the penalty kick. It feels so great to accomplish scoring that goal.”

Grimme finished the game with four saves and over half a dozen cross passes broken up. “Without Grimme, we wouldn't have won this game," Mrlik said. "I've never seen a better game from a keeper. Tufts played a great game, but in a situation where you play against a tough team in cold weather and at an away stadium, it is nice to have a keeper like Grimme.”

Tufts' Zeller finished with three saves. Tufts outshot Vassar 16-8 with seven of its shots coming in the first half.