Thursday, November 11, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Minutes after saving a potential goal on his own end line, Stetson’s All-Atlantic Sun defender Ryan Corning connected on a header off a corner kick for the lone goal in the Hatters’ 1-0 win against the Jacksonville Dolphins in Atlantic Sun Men’s Soccer Championship semifinal action.

Corning’s defensive heroics served as the final of several fortunate plays in and around the Hatters’ net. Three Jacksonville (9-9-2) shots struck one of the goal posts during the course of game prior to the 69th minute when the Dolphins’ Tyler Williams flicked a shot that had beaten Andreas Schnabl, the Hatter goal keeper. Racing to get to the goal line before the ball crossed, Corning kicked the ball off line and back into the field of play.

His goal, his first points of any kind this season, came in the 83rd minute put Stetson (10-5-2) back in the title game for the second straight season and for the fourth time since 2005. The Hatters also make consecutive appearances in the final in 2005 and 2006, winning in 2005 and losing to Gardner-Webb the following year. For Stetson head coach T. Logan Fleck, the win gives the 10-year head coach 100 career victories – 32 while leading the Hatters.

The 1-0 final score represents the first Atlantic Sun Men’s Soccer Championship game decided by that score since a 2007 first-round game between Lipscomb and Belmont, a game won by the Bisons. Only six A-Sun Championship games have ended 1-0 in the last 10 years.

Stetson will take on the Lipscomb-ETSU winner in Saturday’s title game, scheduled for a 3 p.m. start at Summers-Taylor Stadium live on ASun.TV, free of charge. The Hatters shut out the two opponents in back-to-back games in early October. On October 3 in Nashville, the Hatters blanked Lipscomb, 4-0. At home five days later, Stetson handed ETSU one of its two league losses of 2010, a 2-0 defeat. They will attempt to become the first repeat champion in the A-Sun since UCF won three straight titles from 2002 through 2004.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts five of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University