Nov. 11, 2004

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - The Lewis University men's soccer team put up a courageous fight in the face of adversity Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championship.

Injuries to key players and a steady, game-long downpour were not enough to keep Lewis, seeded second in the Great Lakes Region and ranked 10th nationally, from battling 19th-ranked and No. 3 seed Wisconsin-Parkside to a 0-0 stalemate.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, it was Wisconsin-Parkside advancing to play another day by posting a 3-1 advantage in the first penalty-kick round.

The game was played at Washington University in St. Louis. NCAA officials determined that host school Southern Illinois Edwardsville's field was unplayable because of the heavy rain.

Lewis (16-3-3) enjoyed another highly successful season, producing a winning record and reaching double figures in victories for a 13th consecutive season. The 16 wins tie the 1985, 1988 and 1996 teams for the third-highest victory total in Flyer history, and the .795 winning percentage is the program's fifth best.

Head coach Evan Fiffles improved his Lewis career record (13 seasons) to 179-68-23 (.706).

The NCAA appearance was the fourth for the Flyers since 2000. Only one other school (California State-Dominguez Hills) has played in every Division II national tournament in that five-season span; Lewis is one of just five other schools to make four appearances during that period.

"It was a good battle," Fiffles said. "I thought we played very well and had the better of it in the first half.

"The play was pretty even early in the second half until (senior goalkeeper) Jordan (Gustman) got hurt about 10 minutes in, and then (senior defender) Mike (Dahm) went out with an injury a few minutes later. After that I thought we lost a little emotion and Parkside gained some confidence.

"But Dan Breen played well in goal and Dustin Hitzeman did a good job in Dahm's place the rest of regulation and through the two overtimes. We just came up short in the penalty kicks."

The Flyers also were hurt by the limited effectiveness of leading scorer Justin Sanabria, who suffered a leg injury in last Sunday's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship final.

Gustman made five saves and Breen stopped four shots for Lewis, while Parkside's Victor Perez collected five saves. Lewis also had one shot on goal stopped by a Ranger defender.

Wisconsin-Parkside (13-3-3) will face top-seeded and 6th-ranked Southern Illinois Edwardsville Saturday, with the winner advancing to the national quarterfinals.