Rio Rapids Alumni Ryan Hunter

San Antonio – The second-ranked Trinity men’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA Division III round of 16 for the third straight time with a 1-0 second-round victory over the University of Redlands (CA) on Sunday afternoon.

“In tournament games, you have to play on both sides of the ball,” revealed Head Coach Paul McGinlay. “I thought we had some chances in the first half to extend the lead. Not converting made it an extremely difficult game, particularly in the second half. Momentum shifted with 35 minutes to go, and Redlands found a new lease of life. They came at us, just as they came at Whitworth yesterday. This game wasn’t over until the referee blew the final whistle.”

Trinity (21-2-0) will take on the winner of Brandeis (MA) University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) in the NCAA Tournament’s third round November 21, at a site to be determined. The winner advances to the quarterfinals round. The semifinals and final are slated for December 4-5 at Kansas City, Missouri.

Tiger first-year player Ryan Hunter scored the only goal of the game against Redlands, in the 39th minute of play. Hunter, who posted his seventh goal of the season, and the second game-winner, took a long pass from fellow first-year Laurence Wyke from near midfield. It marked the second consecutive day Hunter scored in a Playoff game, as he put one past the University of Texas-Dallas keeper in Saturday’s 3-0 first-round shutout. 

“We dried up a little in the second half, but that was more to do with Redlands having such great possession, and doing great things with it,” admitted Coach McGinlay. “You need to have the ball in order to move forward. We had long periods where we didn’t have it. It was a tough Redlands team. You can see how they won the conference. They are well coached by an icon of U.S. soccer, and I’m proud to call him my good friend.”

Chad Margotta was Trinity’s goalkeeper, and registered one save, which came just two minutes into the matchup. Margotta now has 76 saves to his credit, along with the Tigers 13 of 17 clean-sheet games. Trinity also claimed its 16th straight victory of the season.

“Our 17th shutout is probably an amazing statistic, really, to go through,” said Coach McGinlay. “When we went through the tournament in 2003, the first two games were shutouts against some pretty good compeitition. Maybe that’s a good sign for the future. If the other team goes zero, you have a good chance of winning it.”

Coach McGinlay is in his 25th year as the helm, and has guided the Tigers to the NCAA Postseason for the 14th straight season, and the 19th overall. Trinity has advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the last two years, and nine times overall. The Tigers captured the NCAA Championship in 2003, and were runners-up in 2007. Additionally, Trinity has fought its way to the NCAA semifinals three times.