HOLLAND, Mich. – The 2022 Trine University men's soccer season came to a close on Tuesday evening in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Semifinal Round at Hope College by a score of 1-0.
The Thunder end the year with a record of 9-7-3 overall while the Flying Dutch of Hope are 7-4-6 and advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship match, where they will play the winner of the Calvin University versus Albion College semifinal.
Hope was on the attack early and often to start the match, but the defense was able to withstand multiple corner kicks and Trine goalkeeper Aidan McGonagle was able to make plays on loose balls in the penalty area. He would make his first save of the match in the 15th minute of action.
A boot from the opposite end of the field resulted in the first and only goal of the match in the 18th minute. The Flying Dutch keeper sent a free kick into Thunder territory and when it got passed the defensive line, Hope's forward was able to place a shot beautifully over the Trine keeper's head to the back of the net.
Tyler Murphy took the team's only first half shot shortly after falling behind and put his attempt on net, but it was saved. McGonagle made his second save of the match just before half in the 43rd minute.
Coming out of the halftime break, Murphy and Jared Cromwell each fired shots at the opposing net in the 57th and 59th minutes, but both were unsuccessful. Cromwell got more opportunities in the 74th and 80th minutes with shots on net, but a save by the Hope keeper prevented the Thunder from tying the match.
In the waning moments of the night, Liam Zimmerman put a free kick on goal in a last-ditch effort to send the match to overtime, but to no avail as the final whistle blew.
In the second half, Trine attempted five shots to one for the Flying Dutch, but were unable to capitalize on netting the game-tying goal. In total, Hope took eight corner kicks to Trine's two, showing they were continuously getting quality looks at the net throughout the contest.
The Thunder finished the regular season third in the MIAA, the second-best finish in league play since joining the conference in 2004 and received four All-MIAA selections in Francesco Mazzei, Joey Donovan, Luke Kearns and Gavin Hardy, all of which garnering the honor for the first time in their careers.