Box Score

Throughout the regular season, the SCAD Men's Soccer team gave a strong, disciplined run for The Sun Conference Tournament. But their chances at victory came to an end this weekend.
 
The regular season conference champions, SCAD Men's Soccer ran into a very determined and disciplined Thomas University in the finals of The Sun Conference Championship on Saturday. The game featured number first-seeded the SCAD men, third-seeded Thomas University and two coaches who shared Sun Conference Coach of the Year honors.
 
The men were putting a 15-game undefeated streak on the line, along with the best goal against average of 0.555 in the conference. The Night Hawks were bringing a 15-win season into the finals. On paper it looked like the Bees might have a small edge against the Night Hawks.
 
When Alex Jamroz scored the game's first goal 19 minutes into the game on an assist by teammate Taylor Katsanis, it looked as if the Bees might continue their streak, as well as adding on to their defensive record of having 7 shutouts when playing conference rivals. But the Night Hawks had a different response. Thomas dug in defensively and the intensity of the play picked up significantly.  It was Thomas's time to rally and a shot with a little over two minutes left on the clock found the net and the game went into the intermission all tied up at 1-1.

After intermission the intensity picked up.  A foul in the 18 box at the 79:19 mark gave the Night Hawks a penalty kick.  The outstanding goalie for SCAD was Fernando Zeledon, who leads the nation in goal against average at 0.290.  Thomas gave its scoring leader the opportunity to take the lead.  His shot was just out of the reach of Zeledon and the Night Hawks took a 2-1 lead.

Up and down the pitch the two teams battled for advantage, but there were no more scores.  The Night Hawks held on to their one-goal lead and when the horn sounded ten-plus minutes later, they had their championship and the automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.

The loss in the finals should not keep the Bees from appreciating the great season it had in 2014.  They finished the season at 11-2-4 overall and were undefeated in regular season conference play. Things look bright in 2015 for Tom Melville's Bees. Go Bees!