Middlebury, VT – Making its fourth ever appearance in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, the Vassar College Men's Soccer team suffered a hard fought 2-1 loss in a tightly contested battle with #3 Middlebury Sunday afternoon. Junior
Jared Fiske (Livingston, NJ) supplied the goal for the Brewers.
Sunday's loss closes the Brewers' season at 13-4-3, while the Panthers improve to 16-1-3 and advance to the second weekend of the national tournament.
How It Happened
- Middlebury broke through with the only goal of the first half in the 18th minute.
- Shane Farrell fired a shot to the top left corner of the net off a feed from Kyle Nilsson at 17:32 to give the Panthers an early 1-0 advantage.
- Vassar had chances in the opening stanza, including a blast from the top of the box by Eli Torrey (Philadelphia, PA) that missed just wide to the right 1:45 into the contest.
- The Brewers saw a Duncan Keker (Oakland, CA) attempt blocked in the middle stages of the opening stanza.
- Arden Tobolski (Chapel Hill, NC) put an attempt on frame that was denied in the 31st minute.
- The Panthers finished the first half with a slim 7-5 advantage in shots while shots on goal were even at 2-2.
- Middlebury took six of the eight corner kicks awarded in the opening 45 minutes.
- Jacob Raphan (Oceanside, NY) made one save prior to the break.
- Middlebury keeper, Joey Waterman, also made one save in the first period.
- Coming out of halftime, Middlebury was awarded a penalty kick just under four minutes into the frame.
- Keagan Harder stepped to the spot and gave the Panthers a two-goal advantage at the 48:33 mark of the contest.
- Vassar battled back to within a goal just under four minutes later when Fiske struck in the 53rd minute.
- Torrey centered a ball from the left wing that Fiske buried at 52:24.
- Raphan would make a pair of saves after the Brewers scored to keep them within a shot of tying the game.
- Vassar recorded three shots after scoring, with Mauricio Mejia (Miami, FL) forcing the only save.
- Middlebury outshot Vassar 9-5 after halftime.
- Corner kicks after the break went to the Panthers 3-1.
- Raphan made the two saves in the second half for Vassar.
For The Brewers
- Fiske found the scoring column for the eighth time, finishing the season second on the team in tallies and third on the team in points with 19.
- Torrey assisted on his sixth goal, moving into a three-way tie for the team lead in helpers.
- Arden Tobolski (Chapel Hill, NC) led the team with three shots, putting one on goal.
- Mejia and Keker each closed the game with a pair of attempts.
- Raphan posted three saves in the game and rounds out his sophomore season with a 1.06 goals against average and a .770 save percentage, making 67 stops.
For The Panthers
- Harder scored his team leading ninth goal of the season with the penalty conversion in the second half and picked up his third game winning goal of the year.
- Farrell tallied for the fourth time in 2024.
- Nilsson assisted on seventh goal of the season, moving into a tie for the team lead in helpers.
- Waterman earned the win in goal, turning aside two Vassar shots.
Game Statistics
- Middlebury closed the day with a 16-10 advantage in overall shots and a slim 5-4 edge in shots on goal.
- Corner kicks went to the Panthers by a 9-3 margin.
- Fouls in the contest were whistled 17-15 against Middlebury.
