Brevard College

ATLANTA – The Brevard College men's soccer team (7-9-4) held ninth-ranked Emory University (12-3-3) scoreless through the first 60-plus minutes of action, but the Eagles broke through with three second-half goals to take a 3-0 win in the first round of the 2023 NCAA DIII Men's Soccer Championship Tournament on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Matheus Rossi made a career-high 10 saves throughout the match to anchor Brevard's defense. Senior forward Ryan Lynch took a pair of shot attempts, while Rocco Barbon, Daniel Morgan, and Marcos Silva also registered attempts at goal for the Tornados.
 
Emory totaled a shot attempt and a pair of corner kicks through the first 10 minutes of action, but the Tornado defense held strong. Rossi made his first save of the afternoon on a rebound off a free kick, and kept the game level with a point-blank save on a quality scoring opportunity from the Eagles in the 15^th minute of play.
 
Lynch gave the Tornados their first attempt at goal in the 39^th minute of play, as he beat an Eagle defender and fired a shot that forced Emory to make a save. Just moments later, Morgan came up with a big defensive stand as he blocked an Eagle shot that was bound for the goal.
 
Emory held an 8-2 shot edge on Brevard at halftime, while Rossi tallied three saves through the first 45 minutes of play.
 
The Eagles eventually were able to find the back of the net in the 63^rd minute, as their pressure finally broke down the Tornado defense. Sebastian Rincon fired a shot from point-blank distance that Rossi saved, but Josh Grand was there to clean up the rebound on the empty side of the net and give the ninth-ranked Eagles the lead.
 
In an unfortunate turn of events for the Tornados, Emory was able to double its lead just a minute later when Colton Myers chipped Rossi on an assist from Michael Constant, breaking the contest open in favor of the hosts. Ryan Hayes scored the third goal in five-plus minutes for Emory, as a cross from Myers found a sliding Hayes to extend the edge to a 3-0 margin with just over 20 minutes left to go. The Eagles held BC without a goal down the stretch to conclude BC's magical postseason run
 
Emory outshot Brevard 20-5 in the match, including a 13-1 edge in shots on goal, and held a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
 
The NCAA Championship Tournament appearance concludes yet another successful season for the BC men's soccer program under fifth-year Head Coach Helio D'Anna. Coach L has guided the Tornados to consecutive conference championships for the first time in the NCAA era, and has secured three total trophies in the last four seasons (Spring 2021 USA South West Division Tournament Champions, 2022 USA South Conference Tournament Champions). The 2023 Tornados became just the third team in Brevard's NCAA history to win a conference championship (2010 BC Men's Basketball, 2022 BC Men's Soccer), and the men's soccer program also became the first program to ever appear in consecutive NCAA Tournaments in school history.
 
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