Branden Nall

Box Score

Hope Hope (14-3-3, 5-0-2)

Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC (17-1-4, 5-0-1)

Hope Hope

(14-3-3, 5-0-2)

Final

Nov. 16, 2024

Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC

(17-1-4, 5-0-1)

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	OT-2	OT 1	F
Hope Hope	0	0	0	0	0
Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC	0	0	0	1	1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | 11/16/2024 7:13:00 PM | Alan Babbitt

No. 16 Men's Soccer Edged by No. 7 Wisconsin-Eau Claire in NCAA Second Round

A double-overtime loss in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament to a nationally-ranked opponent brought a close to a memorable season for the 16th-ranked Hope College men's soccer team.

Thanks to the contributions of an invested senior class, the Flying Dutchmen are primed for more success in the future, head coach David Blahnik said after seventh-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire edged the Flying Dutchmen, 1-0, on Saturday.

Hope, the MIAA co-champions, finished with a 14-3-3 overall record after playing in the NCAA Second Round for the seventh time in program history and the first time since 2013.

"I wasn't the coach who recruited the seniors. They signed up to come play at Hope under a different set of circumstances. I came in three years ago, whether they wanted to or not, the first day they did what we asked," Blahnik said. "With each year, the program has gotten better and stronger, not just on the field, but off the field in the classroom, representing the program well, representing Hope while representing their family as well.

"We may not have won today, but I think that we're one of the best teams in the country in regards to having a good team, culture and team bond. Even though they're going to be gone, they've set a foundation and a legacy that is going to be pretty well known, I think, in the next few years."

The senior class featured forward Ben Bush; goalkeepers Keegan DeKuiper and Daniel Hesselbein; defenders Jake Lyon and Cole Pauly; and midfielders Matthew Davidson, Thomas De Vries, Mario Hrvojevic and Matt Wimmer.

Hope battled Eau Claire on its turf through 90 minutes of regulation and 15 minutes, 25 seconds of overtime.

Despite being outshot nearly three-to-one, the Flying Dutchmen kept the game scoreless until Tate McDermott dashed their teams by scoring his third goal of the season off an assist from Tobias Volkmann midway through the second 10-minute overtime period.

It was the 12th shot of the game for Eau Claire (17-1-4), the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions.

Hesselbein (Barrington, Illinois / Barrington Community HS) made seven saves for Hope.

Eau Claire advanced to face either Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) or the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the third round. Gustavus Adolphus and Wisconsin-Platteville play in the second round on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

"Credit Eau Claire, obviously a great team. They were who we thought they were," Blahnik said. "We wholeheartedly believed that we could win this game, but we knew that this would just be a competitive game. We knew that they scored a ton on a lot of teams this year, and that's been deserving. But we were confident in our ability to feel like we can stay tight in any game, and I credit these guys for doing that."

"Overall, I was happy with how we played. I think we had a lot of opportunities and sometimes in the game of soccer, maybe more than any other sport, the ball just sometimes bounces another way," he said. "I'm less frustrated in the result. I'm more frustrated because I just feel like these guys deserve to continue playing. They've done everything that I've asked them to do this year and in the past few years, and they've done it with a great attitude. I'm frustrated that I don't get to coach them anymore."

" I love these guys," Blahnik said, "but I'm excited because I'm extremely confident that they're just going to go on to be extremely successful members of society."