2012 National Champs

Division II Men Champs

When Lynn lost in the NCAA men’s Division II national championship game a year ago, Coach John Rootes had a photograph taken of the scoreboard that illuminated the final score. The photo, and the painful memory it evoked, served as motivation for the Fighting Knights to finish the job of winning the title this year. That goal was achieved when Lynn held off a furious late rally by Saginaw Valley State to secure a 3-2 victory in the 2012 national D-II championship match at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, GA.
Lynn won its fifth men’s national title by taking a 3-0 lead on goals from Johnny Merti, Yannick Braeuer and Antony Desperito, and holding off a second half rally by the Cardinals.
Lynn got on the scoreboard 2:07 into the game on Merti’s goal. The Knights finished the season 19-3-1.
Zach Walega and Lachlan Savage scored to cut the margin to 3-2 with less than eight minutes left in the second half. Saginaw State, making their first appearance in the title match, finished the season 18-3-4.

NCAA Division III Men

It took Messiah College 99 minutes to score its first goal in the national semifinals in a 1-0 win over Loris. It took only six minutes for Brian Ramirez to score the Falcons’ first in the the championhship. They would score five more before Ohio Northern could get on the scoreboard in a 5-1 Messiah victory. It was Messiah’s ninth men’s D-III national soccer championship. The Falcons are now 9-0 in championship games.
By the 19th minute of the game, Messiah was up 4-0 on goals by Ramirez, Mike Kovach, Carter Robbins and Jeremy Payne. Payne would score again in the second half. Messiah, which scored on the first five shots taken in the final, finished the season with an unbeaten 23-