Augsburg College - Athletics

Men's Soccer Men's Soccer 11/16/08 -- NCAA Division III National Playoff Second Round -- Augsburg (Minn.) 1, Redlands (Calif.) 0

REDLANDS, Calif. (11/16/08) -- D.J. Wendell (JR, Princeton, Minn./Charles M. Russell (Mont.) HS) scored from Van Hong (SO, St. Louis Park, Minn.) on a crossing shot in the 63rd minute, as the Augsburg College men's soccer team advanced to the sectionals of the NCAA Division III national tournament with a 1-0 victory over host Redlands College (Calif.) in a second-round game on Sunday afternoon at Farquhar Field.

Augsburg (12-3-7 overall) will travel to Dubuque, Iowa, to face host Loras (Iowa, 18-4-1 overall) in the sectionals on Saturday (11/22) at 7:30 p.m. The Dubuque sectional site will also include Ohio Northern (19-5-1) and Hobart (N.Y., 18-0-3), which will meet in the other third-round game on Saturday at 5 p.m. The winners of the two third-round games will meet on Sunday (11/23) at 6 p.m. in the sectional final in Dubuque, with the winner earning a trip to the national semifinals on Dec. 5 in Greensboro, N.C.

"We keep getting better, and this is fun to be a part of. But by no means are we satisfied with where we are at. Our guys are still bitter we didn't win the conference. Now they are determined to win something bigger," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "Loras will be another great team. They went undefeated last season, losing on PK's in the Final Four, and have players like Santiago Mejia and Miguel Bonilla that are extremely comfortable and the ball and dangerous in the attack. Their goalkeeper, Nate DuBois, led the country in save percentage last season and is very good at his position. It will be a challenge that we look forward to."

Men's Soccer Augsburg, in its first-ever appearance in the national tournament, will carry a seven-game unbeaten streak (4-0-3) into the third round. Redlands (16-5-2 overall) was one of six teams to earn first-round byes in the national tournament, but saw its 17-game unbeaten streak (15-0-2) snapped by the Auggies.

"We were extremely organized in the first half, allowing them to have the ball, but not allowing them any clean looks at our goal. We needed to play low and rest as long as we could. The travel and the heat certainly took a toll on what we were capable of," Holker said. "When we started the second half, we decided to go at them -- and we were very effective, creating four high quality chances."

The Bulldogs outshot the Auggies by a 21-8 margin in the game, including a 13-3 advantage in the second half, and had six corner kicks (all in the second half) to Augsburg's two. But Augsburg goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (JR, Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) came up with five saves, including a save in the 74th minute and another on a header in the 86th minute. Venter claimed his ninth shutout of the season with the win and his school-record 22nd shutout of his career.

"Nick Anderson (JR, White Bear Lake, Minn.) almost scored, but struck right into (Redland goalkeeper) Evan Hobson's chest. Then we connected on one. D.J.'s goal was one of the most attractive sequences of the season. James See (SR, Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS) and Van built that up, and D.J. was sharp in his finish. Van almost doubled the lead, but missed Andrew Seidel's (SR, Woodbury, Minn.) cross just outside of the right post," Holker said. "Then they came at us with everything. Redlands is a technically sound team and Bryan Fakkema was the best player we have seen all season long. They were dangerous on the counter attack and did extremely well to interchange their players in the final third. We did enough, though, to keep them in front of us. Pascaul was called on just once to make a big save, and he had the answer."

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Augsburg College, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III.

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