Bantams Earn No. 3-Seed in NESCAC Tournament

Middletown, Conn. -- Freshman Timothy Shea (Somerset, Mass.) scored his first career goal in the 18th minute and senior co-captain Dan Mayernick (Gladwyne, Pa.) added an insurance goal less than five minutes later to lead the visiting Trinity College Bantams to a 2-0 men's soccer victory over the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rival Wesleyan University Cardinals this afternoon. Wesleyan, ranked No. 9 nationally, suffered its first defeat of the season to move to 10-1-3 overall and 7-1-2 in the NESCAC. Trinity improved to 8-4-2 and 6-2-2 in NESCAC action, clinching the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament and matching the program's highest-ever finish in the NESCAC standings.   Both teams will return to action on Saturday, hosting NESCAC quarterfinal contests. Wesleyan will host defending conference champion Middlebury College, while Trinity will battle in-state rival Connecticut College.

Shea's goal with 17:48 gone in the contest gave Trinity all the offense it would need. Mayernick sent the ball from deep along the right side to Shea, who was standing alone in the middle of the box. Shea's low shot tucked just inside the left post to give him his first goal of the season.  Mayernick made it a 2-0 game at the 22:23 mark, as he beat a pair of Wesleyan defenders at the top of the box, ran to the right side, and sent another low shot to almost the exact same spot as Shea's goal. The goal marked the first time since its season opener against Bowdoin College that Wesleyan allowed two goals in a game.    

Wesleyan had a number of opportunities, but the Bantam defense, anchored by senior co-captains Joe Buckley (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Wesley Updike (Cambridge, Mass.), and sophomores Zachary Packer (Mansfield, Mass.) and Shaun McGann (West Hartford, Conn.) kept Wesleyan off the board. Trinity has allowed just seven goals on the year, and zero during its regular-season-ending 3-0 spurt.  Following a Trinity foul with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half, Wesleyan was awarded a free kick from 20 yards out. Senior Steve Paresi (Armonk, N.Y.) tried to curl the ball inside the left post, but Trinity senior co-captain keeper Grant Schonberg (Mendham, N.J.) dove to his right to get two hands on the ball and push it away.  Schonberg stopped another shot by Paresi in the 51st minute but was unable to control the rebound. Wesleyan junior Walter Rodriguez (North Plainfield, N.J.) was waiting on the doorstep and had a shot at an open net, but Packer blocked the shot at the goal line.

Schonberg finished with seven stops in the Trinity net to record his seventh shutout (third in a row) of the season. Wesleyan junior Adam Purdy (Montclair, N.J.) had three saves in the contest.  Trinity has had its way with the Cardinals in recent years, winning four of the past five meetings by a combined score of 7-1. The Bantams took a 1-0 victory in Middletown last season on Mayernick's tally in the 52nd minute.
    
Box score