Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania men's soccer team put the finishing touches on the 2020-21 regular season with a 1-0 victory over the Franklin College Grizzlies in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference finale on Wednesday evening at Pat Deacon Stadium.
Mitchell Crispin's game-winner in the 57th minute lifted the Pioneers to their eighth victory in nine matches on HCAC Decision Day to seal up the No. 2 seed in the single-match HCAC Tournament. The Pioneers will visit No. 1 seed Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology next week in the HCAC Tournament Championship match at a time and date to be announced.
Transylvania's regular-season clincher marked its sixth shutout in nine games as the Pioneer defense never wavered throughout an agonizing evening which featured plenty of quality scoring opportunities for Transylvania, but resulted in just one critical breakthrough.
As the night evolved, the Pioneers began hammering away at Franklin's defense as Peyton Netherton and Jak Birdsong each forced Grizzly keeper Elliott Clark off of his line for two early saves.
Transylvania continued to batter the Franklin defense with an assortment of crosses and inswingers that kept the Grizzlies on their toes in the first half hour as the home team established a consistent occupation in the attacking half.
The Pioneers crafted a quality header by Alec Coomes in the 23rd minute and a high-paced direct kick from Jak Birdsong in the 29th minute, but both opportunities narrowly missed the net as the night remained level at 0-0.
Transylvania's aggression was evidenced by a 7-4 advantage on shots and a 3-0 margin on corner kicks won in the first half. Early in the second half, the consistent onslaught was finally rewarded.
The Pioneers won another corner in the 57th minute. As a cross from the right corner flew into the box, Zach Hill took aim on a close-range opportunity; though the senior's shot was parried away by the Grizzly keeper, Crispin was present to slip in the deflection for the first and lone goal of the evening.
Several opportunities followed for the Pioneers to double their lead on Franklin as Transy outshot the Grizzlies 12-1 in the second half. While the Pioneers came up empty in pursuit of their second goal, their relentless maintenance of possession held the Grizzlies in check for the final half hour as Transylvania clinched the runner-up finish in the HCAC standings.
Transylvania enters next week's modified HCAC Tournament, consisting of a one-game final to determine the winner between the top two seeds, on a five-match win streak. The championship match will pit a rematch between Transylvania and Rose-Hulman, who handed the Pioneers their lone defeat of the regular season, a 3-0 result on March 13.
Next week's championship fixture will be revealed on TransySports.com later this week.
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