Messiah Falls to Trinity in National Semifinal Match
Posted: 2/8/2008
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Lake Buena Vista, FL -- #4 Messiah lost 1-0 to #1 Trinity University on Friday in the semifinals of the NCAA national championship at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

Messiah's season comes to an end with a 21-3 record, while undefeated Trinity advances to its second national championship match in school history. It will face Middlebury on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

The Falcons and Tigers were locked in a scoreless first half that saw both teams create chances, although Trinity held the edge in both shots (12-9) and corner kicks (7-2).

Trinity started the second 45 minutes brightly though and were rewarded immediately. Patrick Floeck scored the match winning goal, his 15th of the season and 10th match winner, just 15 seconds into the half. Messiah's defense made an error, and Floeck was there to knock in the goal from the edge of the box.

“All season we’ve focused on going forward, putting pressure right off the bat,” Floeck said.  “I tried to strike it well and put it on target, and it went well...I couldn’t believe it.”

Messiah pressed forward in search of an equalizer, forcing several key saves from Trinity's goalkeeper David Steinberg, but in the end the Falcons were unable to find the goal.

“We knew we would have to defend,” explained Trinity Head Coach Paul McGinlay.  “We were under the gun... (Steinberg) is a great athlete, and he put in a great performance, his penultimate soccer performance here at Trinity.”