Historic run by Centre men’s soccer ends in NCAA Tournament’s Final Four
The most successful season in the history of the Centre College men’s soccer team came to an end Friday night when the Colonels were defeated 3-0 by Amherst College in the Final Four of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Greensboro, N.C.
Centre (20-4-1) had never advanced past the second round in six previous NCAA Tournament appearances. The Colonels made their run to the national semifinals without star goalie Tate Johnson, who was injured during a 4-3 overtime win against No. 18 Oglethorpe in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament title game.
Sophomore Haydon Korfhage made his second career start in the Colonels’ 1-0 victory over Kalamazoo in the first round. Centre also defeated John Carroll, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Montclair State before running into Amherst (19-1-2), the top-ranked team in the country.
Amherst sophomore forward German Giamattei proved too much much for Centre to handle on Friday. The first-team All-American scored all three goals, two of them unassisted. He gave the Mammoths a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the match with his 24th goal of the season, then tacked on another late in the first half.
Eight minutes into the second half Giamattei connected on the final goal of the match. Johnson took over as goalkeeper for the Colonels the rest of the game, ending his Centre career on the pitch. He will graduate along with nine other seniors, including first-team All-American Alexander Garuba, who led the Colonels with 23 goals this year.
Amherst will face the winner between Tufts University and Calvin College in the national championship Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast on NCAA.com.
