Dec. 3, 2009
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NCAA Men's Soccer 'Final Four': #9 Lees-McRae 2, #20 Lewis 2 (Lees-McRae Wins PK's, 5-3) 
Tampa, Fla. - With a berth in the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship on the line, both No. 20 Lewis University and No. 9 Lees-McRae knew that they had to leave everything on the field at Tampa's Pepin Stadium field on Thursday (Dec. 3) afternoon in their `Final Four' contest.
After battling to a 2-2 tie over the first 110 minutes of the contest, Lees-McRae, led by Bobcats' goalkeeper Sean Paradise, defeated the Flyers, 5-3, in penalty kicks to advance to the NCAA Championship on Saturday (Dec. 5) afternoon.
"It's a hard loss, we've worked hard all season," Lewis senior forward Nestor Hernandez (Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) said. "We started (the season) rough, but we fought back. It's a great accomplishment to make it this far, but we wanted to go farther and make history. Unfortunately we fell short today."
Lees-McRae (18-2-2) advances to the NCAA Championship game on Saturday (Dec. 5) afternoon against Fort Lewis (23-1-1). Lewis ends its season with a record of 16-3-3.
Paradise opened up the shootout, by stoning Lewis freshman defender Robert McGowan (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) for the second time that afternoon.
Earlier in the second half, the Flyers were awarded a penalty kick in the 57th minute, as Lees-McRae was whistled for a handball in the box. Fiffles sent McGowan for the penalty shot.
Paradise was up to the task, as he stoned McGowan's attempt in the lower right corner of the goalmouth.
After McGowan's missed attempt in the shootout, both teams traded scores before Lees-McRae's Jamie Bladen clinched the shootout win with the Bobcats' fifth-straight score.
Before the contest even got to extra playing time, it seemed that a NCAA Championship berth was on the docket for the Lewis Flyers.
It was a scoreless battle for the first 78:39 of the contest, before both teams exploded for four goals before regulation time expired.
Hernandez opened up the floodgates with two goals in less than a minute to put the Flyers ahead, 2-0 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
The Bobcats, however, did not pack up their bags, as they answered with consecutive goals from Grant Elder and Lee Squires in the final five minutes to send the contest into extra time.
Hernandez' first tally came as the result of a beautiful pass from the Flyers' leading assist man in senior midfielder Kipp Cartwright (Park Forest, Ill./Marian Catholic) at the 78:40 mark. Lewis goalkeeper Sebastian Kieruzal (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Hoffman Estates) also picked up an assist on the play.
In less than a blink of an eye, Hernandez earned his team-best 16th goal of the season at the 79:37 mark of the second half. Senior forward Charlie Bucio (Chicago, Ill./Juarez) earned the assist on the play.
Paradise finished the contest with five saves, while Kieruzal stoned six shots for the Flyers.
"I thought we did what we needed to do for the first 84 minutes of the game," Lewis head men's soccer coach Evan Fiffles said. "The rest of the game we didn't do what we needed to do, and that's the bottom line."
"It's a difficult loss to have, no doubt," Fiffles continued. "We just didn't get it done."
A Catholic university sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis offers nearly 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, accelerated degree completion options for working adults, various aviation programs and 22 graduate programs in nine fields. The 9th largest private, not-for-profit university in Illinois is being honored for the sixth consecutive year by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. For more information please visit www.lewisu.edu.
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