Men Drop Heart Breaker, Rebound with Third Place Finish

Despite great team defending the Eagles ended with a third place finish at the Midwest Christian College Conference tournament. Faith was able to play 298 consecutive minutes without giving up a goal, but came up short in penalty kicks during the semifinals before redeeming themselves in the third place match.

Faith played #10 and eventual MCCC tournament champions Manhattan Christian College in the semifinals Friday, 10/23/15 in a defensive battle.  Both teams created dangerous scoring opportunities throughout the game but neither team was able to finish.  Manhattan had more possession and second half opportunities, but the Eagles were able to send the game into extra time and then penalty kicks.

Joseph Frerichs and Andrew Young were able to convert their shots and the Eagles gained the momentum as goalkeeper David Levy saved Manhattan's second attempt. Manhattan's keeper was able to make a tremendous stop to save the Eagles next attempt leveling it at 2-2 through three rounds.  Jason Scheps put his in and Manhattan matched it, but the Eagles final attempt went inches wide leaving the door open for Manhattan to end it 4-3.

After the disappointing loss the Eagles found themselves in the third place match against defending MCCC champions Barclay College.  Faith set the tone of the game as they possessed the ball at least 70% of the time and limited Barclay to just two shots through the first 88 minutes. During that time the Eagles were able to score in the 19th minute as Joseph Frerichs put a ball through to Andrew Young for the simple tap in.  Frerichs was then able to slot the ball past the keeper off an assist from Nick Paine in the 28th minute, and Paine was able put the game out of reach in the 81st minute off an amazing goal reminiscent of Jermaine Jones (USMNT) 2014 World Cup goal vs Portugal as Paine curled into the far post side-netting from nearly 30 yards away off another assist from Frerichs.

Barclay was able to sneak a ball in after the Eagles cleared their bench in the 88th minute preventing Faith from their goal of not giving a goal all tournament. The Eagles currently lead the NCCAA II allowing less than one goal per game.

During the conference awards banquet Marcus Wilkes was named Honorable Mention All-Conference. Andrew Young, Joseph Frerichs, and Chase Clark were all named to the first team, and Clark was named the MCCC's Most Valuable Player as he scored 16 goals and had 12 assists on the season.