After a promising 10-0 start, DePauw's men's soccer team closed the season with a disappointing finish.
Upon losing in the first round of the NCAC tournament to Ohio Wesleyan University, the Tigers were denied an at-large bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament on Monday.
From the first game, the season began on a high note for the Tigers. They won a hard fought game over Centre College, 2-1. After a scoreless first half, things really heated up in the last 45 minutes of the contest. With less than 20 minutes remaining, Adrian Ables gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead, but just three minutes later, the Colonels tied it at one a piece. DePauw would answer back with three minutes to go, as first-year Julian Gonzalez notched his first goal of the year, securing a 2-1 win for the Tigers.
The Tigers would make it two in a row the following day, as they traveled to Knox College and trounced the Prairie Fire 6-0.
The Tigers returned home and after a five day break began a three game home stand against Franklin College, Earlham College and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
DePauw would win each of these games 2-0 behind great goalkeeping from junior goalkeeper, Jacob Pezzuto.
The Tigers, then ranked 21st in the nation, traveled to Hanover College to take on the Panthers. An early goal by junior Andy Morrison would be all DePauw would need to secure a 1-0 win. The win earned DePauw their sixth straight to open the season. With the shutout, Pezzuto extended his scoreless streak to five games.
On September 14, the Tigers improved to 7-0 with an easy 3-0 win over the Principia Panthers. Two Morrison goals and one tally from first-year Zach Hoffman gave the Tigers all the offense they needed.
When the Tigers took on Hiram College, Pezzuto's shutout streak would end, but their hot start would stay in tact. DePauw survived a scare from the Terriers, earning a 2-1 overtime victory. Not even a minute into the extra period, Alieu Musa put one behind the Hiram goalkeeper, keeping the Tigers perfect.
DePauw would go on to make it ten in a row with wins of 4-2 against Olivet and 2-1 on the road at Anderson. Over the two game stretch, Gonzalez notched three goals, including the game winner against Anderson.
The winning streak would come to an end when the Tigers took on Kenyon College, but the undefeated start would continue. The Tigers and the Lords battled to a draw after 90 minutes of scoreless soccer.
DePauw had plenty of chances, but Kenyon goalkeeper Sam Clougher was up to the challenge. Clougher stopped all eight shots the Tigers challenged him with and helped place the first blemish on DePauw's record.
Now ranked tenth in the nation, DePauw traveled to the College of Wooster for a North Coast Athletic Conference matchup with the Fighting Scots. DePauw quickly returned to its winning ways, notching 2-0 behind goals from Morrison and Ables.
The Tigers then headed home for a date with top ranked Ohio Wesleyan University at Boswell Field. After 77 minutes of scoreless soccer in which DePauw controlled the majority of the possession, Colton Bloecher of the Battling Bishops gave them a 1-0 lead.
As they had done all season however, the Tigers responded quickly. Just 16 seconds later, a handball in OWU's defensive box earned DePauw a penalty kick. Morrison stepped up and drilled the PK to tie the game at one.
Unfortunately, the Battling Bishops would tally two late goals, thus ending DePauw's 12 game unbeaten streak.
"I think one of the tricky parts of navigating a season is sustaining greatness with a target on your back," said DePauw head coach Brad Hauter. "The higher we climbed in the ranking the bigger prize we became for teams."
The Tigers rebounded well, however, earning a 6-1 blowout victory over Wittenberg just four days later.
On October 19, the 11th ranked Tigers would suffer an upset at the hands of the Oberlin Yeomen. DePauw never got into an offensive rhythm and fell 1-0 on the road.
Adding an actual injury, in addition to the insult of the loss, was the fact that star defender, Brandon Johnson, would go down with a broken collarbone and thus end his season.
"We had to make adjustments accordingly," said Morrison. "It caused us to switch people in a bunch of different positions looking for a fix, but we never really found it."
Following the loss, the Tigers earned a 2-1 win in Pennsylvania against the Allegheny Gators and a 4-2 win over bitter rival Wabash.
In the season finale, the Tigers found themselves down 2-0 on the road at Denison University. However, two late goals by Morrison forced the game into overtime. Neither team was able to cash in with the extra 30 minutes of soccer and the game ended in 2-2 draw.
With the weak finish to the season, DePauw entered the NCAC tournament as the fourth seed. It seemed like destiny when the Tigers got another chance at Ohio Wesleyan in the first round of the tournament.
Goals by Morrison and Gonzalez matched two tallies by Evan Lee and the game headed to overtime. After a scoreless half hour, the game went to penalty kicks. Each team converted in the first five rounds. The game would be decided in the sixth frame when DePauw's Matt Reda hit the left post and OWU's Alex Stanton converted. The Battling Bishops had won the game with a 6-5 penalty kick advantage.
"Right after the game, we didn't really see how we wouldn't end up getting an at-large bid," Morrison said. "We weren't happy, but we were still confident."
With the automatic bid for the NCAC champion out of the question for the Tigers, they waited to hear if their season would continue on Monday at the NCAA selection show.
DePauw's lackluster finish to the season was enough to convince the NCAA that they did not deserve an at-large bid into the tournament that will decide the National Champion.
"I felt our resume was good enough," Hauter said about the decision. "We were in the conversation for the last six picks and had a better strength of schedule and record than those selected."
With the announcement, the Tigers would end with a regular season record of 14-2-3 and 5-2-2 in NCAC play.
Amidst the sadness of the conclusion of the season, the DePauw soccer program did receive a bit of positive news when it learned that 2012 graduate and standout goalkeeper, Nathan Sprenkel, signed a professional contract with the Indy Eleven soccer club.
"One of the easiest players I've ever had the chance to work with," Hauter said about his former player. "Always motivated. Always focused. Incredible discipline and ridiculously talented. Makes it easy to be a coach."
Sprenkel will make his debut with the squad in the North American Soccer League in April.
"He is more than ready to be an impact player at the next level," said his former coach. "There isn't a moment too big for him and he handles them each with the same steady intensity."