LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's soccer team will travel to Carlisle, Pa., this weekend to take on No. 25 Denison in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the campus of Dickinson College.
W&L & DENISON – HOW THEY GOT HERE:
The Generals enter NCAA Tournament play at 11-4-5 overall this season, fresh off a trip to their fourth consecutive ODAC championship game. Ranked 29th in the final NCAA NPI rankings of the season, the Generals earned one of 21 at-large bids into the championship field after falling in the conference title game. This marks W&L's 10th consecutive trip to the national tournament, and the program has finished in the national semifinals in three of the last four years.
The Big Red will be playing in their 13th NCAA Tournament this weekend following a run to the national quarterfinals a season ago. At 14-2-3, Denison is also an at-large team in this year's field after a 3-1 loss to DePauw in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title game last weekend.
Saturday's game will mark the sixth all-time meeting between W&L and Denison in men's soccer, and the first since August 30, 2013. The Generals hold a 3-1-1 all-time record against the Big Red.
GENERALS BY THE NUMBERS:
W&L enters the weekend having outscored opponents 37-12 this season with 11 shutouts and balanced scoring up top. The Generals have had 21 different players record at least one point this season, with 17 different goal scorers and 15 players with multiple goal contributions.
Senior
Buster Couhig leads the way for the W&L offense with a team-high 16 points on seven goals and two assists, including four game-winning goals. Senior
Willy Hall follows with 12 points on three goals and a team-best six assists, with sophomore
Ricardo Sanchez and first-year
Sami Seife next at 10 points (4g, 2a) each.
The W&L defense, headlined by Hall and juniors
Spencer Furman and
Nick Apostolou, is allowing just 0.60 goals per game which is tied for 14th in Division III. Senior goalkeeper
Will Joseph has also turned in one of the best seasons of his career, posting career bests for goals-against average (0.52), save percentage (0.837) and tying his career high in clean sheets (9).
The Generals were well-represented on the All-ODAC teams, with Couhig, Hall, Furman and junior
Matthew Jenkins (2g, 4a – 8pts) all on the first team. Joseph was the All-ODAC Second Team goalkeeper, with Sanchez rounding it out on the third team.
BIG RED BY THE NUMBERS:
Denison comes into the national tournament with a 45-12 goal differential in 19 games this season with 11 shutouts. Up until their conference championship game, the Big Red had conceded multiple goals in a game just once (Otterbein, T, 3-3, Sept. 17), with 12 multi-goal games on the offensive end.
Kameron Kist has been the Big Red's top offensive weapon this season, leading the team in points (24) and goals (9) to go along with six assists, second most on the squad. Phil Koutsaftis (4g, 6a) and Eli Taylor (6g, 2a) are next at 14 points apiece, with Julian Bozzolo (4g, 2a) and Henri Heyes (5g) with 10 points.
Alex Provost has handed goalkeeping duties for 93 percent of the team's minutes this season. He is yielding a 0.68 goals-against average in 1,599:03 of action, nine shutouts and a 0.789 save percentage.
Kist and Heyes also led Denison on the All-NCAC teams as the Midfielder and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. It also marked Kist's second straight Midfielder of the Year award. Those two players were joined on the All-NCAC First Team by Zarius Eusebe. Taylor and Kaden Kist were on the second team and Provost wrapped it up with a third team citation.
DICKINSON RED DEVILS, N.C. WESLEYAN BATTLING BISHOPS QUICK HITTERS:
The Dickinson Red Devils cruised through the Centennial Conference Tournament, winning, 3-0, against Muhlenberg in the semifinals before earning an automatic bid into the national tournament with a 4-0 win over Johns Hopkins in the final. They enter the weekend with a 13-0-7 record and a 45-8 goal differential.
Saul Iwowo leads the offense with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists, with Ethan Jarden (7g, 3a – 17p) and Nicholas Dwamena (3g, 7a – 13p) following. Nick Potter holds a 0.40 GAA in 1,589:52 of action in the Dickinson goal this season, with 10 clean sheets and one or fewer goals allowed in all 19 starts.
Iwowo was named the Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Year, while the coaching staff, led by head coach Jorge Chapoy, was named the top staff in the conference. Iwowo, Jarden, Dwamena, Luke Finkielstein and Jackson Wolf all made the All-CC First Team, Potter was tabbed to the second team and Jeremy Sallade earned honorable mention.
The N.C. Wesleyan Battling Bishops earned the USA South Conference's automatic bid after back-to-back 3-2 wins in the tournament semifinals and championship game. The Bishops shook a slow start to the season (2-7-1) and have won seven of their last nine to enter this weekend with a 9-8-2 overall record.
Tom Roantree is NCW's top scorer at five goals and two assists (12pts), with four goals and eight points each from Israel Monsanto and Corentin Solitaire. Jacob Westermark has seen the most time in net for the Bishops, and he has a 1.60 GAA across 1,353:53.
The Battling Bishops earned three Second Team All-USA South selections in Mohamed Macalou, Jordi Rodriguez and Daan Post.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for all three games at Dickinson College this weekend are available for purchase
here. Adult tickets are $10 and tickets for children are $5.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Dickinson will battle the Bishops in Saturday's first game at 1:00 p.m., followed by W&L vs. Denison at 3:30 p.m. The two advancing teams will then meet on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. in the second round.
Live stats and live streams will be provided for all three games throughout the weekend at the following links:
Live Stats |
Live Stream.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
