College: Southern Connecticut Downs USC Spartanburg for Fifth Men’s Division II Title

Junior Assaf Dagai’s eighth-minute goal was the difference as Southern Connecticut State edged host USC Spartanburg 1-0 to win the men’s Division II championship Dec. 5. The victory was the fifth title for the Owls, who were also champions in 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1995, and the first for coach Tom Lang, who took over when Ray Reid became the coach at Connecticut. Dagai scored the winner when he one-touched a cross from Paul Oyuga into the left corner. Southern Connecticut advanced to the final by defeating Seattle Pacific 3-0 behind goals from Gilbert Jean-Baptiste, Dan Valency and Alex Rincon. Spartanburg downed Mercyhurst 2-0 in the other semifinal. Henrik Ronnevig had a goal and an assist to lead the Rifles. SEMIFINALS Dec. 3 in Spartanburg, S.C. So. Connecticut 3 Seattle Pacific 0. Goals: Jean-Baptiste 19:34, Valency (Hutson, Oyuga) 45:34, Rincon (Hutson) 71:50. So. Connecticut — Gatti, Osovsky, Jean-Baptiste, Hutson, Navarrete, Oyuga, Dagai, Rincon, Brooks, Valency, Karmon. Subs: Smith, Benoit, Hanson, DeLucia. Seattle Pacific — Noetzel, Dickerson, Berg, Janzen, Garner, Malick, Vandamme, Skipper, Altshuler, Reidel, Tostolutsky. Subs: Yokers, Collings, Rudland, Lopez, Suhm, Knutson. Att.: 725. USC Spartanburg 2 Mercyhurst 0. Goals: Ziehm (Ronnevig) 27:48, Ronnevig 33:18. USC Spartanburg — Todd, Siira, Anderson, Van Der Merwe, Armstrong, Sharrieff, Tohvanainen, Stolfa, Lucas, Mikulski, Ronnevig. Subs: Williams, Ziehm, Eranka, Myers. Mercyhurst — Tuitt, Yurkovich, Potter, Hogg, Shiels, Fitzgerald, Burns, Maher, Jankowski, Hanson, Slisz. Subs: Kitcho, Rees. Att.: 2,093. CHAMPIONSHIP Dec. 5 in Spartanburg, S.C. USC Spartanburg 0 So. Connecticut 1. Goal: Dagai (Oyuga) 7:58. USC Spartanburg — Negalha, Siira, Anderson, Van Der Merwe, Armstrong, Sharrieff, Tohvanainen, Stolfa, Lucas, Mikulski, Ronnevig. Subs: Ziehm, Eranka, Williams. So. Connecticut — Gatti, Osovsky, Jean-Baptiste, Hutson, Navarrete, Oyuga, Dagai, Rincon, Brooks, Valency, Karmon. Subs: Smith, Hanson, Benoit. Red card: USC Spartanburg — Siira 84. Att.: 2,833.