Grace’s Wright Named All-American To End NCCAAsPALM COAST, Fla. - Grace’s men’s golf team wrapped up a successful week with a fourth-place showing at the 2019 NCCAA National Championships.
Noah Wright earned All-American honors for the Lancers, tying for fifth overall on the individual leaderboard.
Wright fired an opening-round 73, and he followed that up with a 77-74 over the final two days to grab an All-American position.
Camden Gongwer was a model of consistency. He placed 14th overall with a steady scorecard of 76-76-77.
Blake Lawson recovered from an opening-round 83; the freshman ended the tournament with two rounds of 75.
Payton Kelly was next with a scoreline of 75-81-85, and Jacob Abrahamson rounded out the team’s scoring with a 77-77-91.
As a team, Grace ended the three-day, three-round event with a score of 917, five strokes better than fifth-place Cedarville. Erskine College won the tournament with a score of 875.
The Lancers are not done this fall, traveling to the Saints Classic on Monday and Tuesday at Warren Golf Course.
Lancers Net Four To End Regular Season
WINONA LAKE – Grace’s men’s soccer team continued its late-season momentum with a 4-0 win over Marian on Wednesday.
The Lancers (9-5-3, 3-4-2 Crossroads League) moved up to sixth place in the Crossroads League standings with their second straight win. As a result, Grace will travel to Bethel in the quarterfinals of the CL Tournament on Nov. 2.
Marcelo Talamas wrapped up his sterling regular season with a goal and two assists on Wednesday night.
Chances were limited in the first half as the game began to open up more after halftime. The first threatening chance of the match came from Henrique Cerruti.
After a strong build up by the Lancers, Cerruti tried a shot from the top of the penalty box, but his attempt went high of the crossbar.
Ulisses Miranda and Talamas were a dangerous duo in attack, combining for three near-misses in the half. Miranda and Talamas both had shots that needed sharp saves.
Another chance from Talamas beat the goalkeeper, but the ball was saved off the goal line by the final defender for the Knights (6-10-1, 1-7-1 CL).
Grace broke onto the scoreboard in the 29th minute. On a free kick, Ze Maria Goncalves crossed to the center of the penalty area. Ivan Santagiuliana timed his run well, redirecting the ball past the goalkeeper at the 28:40 mark.
Marian was largely quiet until the final four minutes. The Knights advanced deep into Grace’s end of the field and put numbers in the box. A first shot was pawed away by Grace goalkeeper Colton Wottring. A second shot was cleared away by the Lancers’ backline to preserve the 1-0 lead.
Grace outshot Marian 6-4 in the opening half, and the Lancers’ edge would grow dramatically after halftime.
The Lancers had the clear upper hand in the second half. Grace held a 15-5 shot edge and put three goals past the Knights.
In the 58th minute, Grace’s lead doubled. Talamas sent a leading pass to Miranda, who eventually cut along the endline and passed back. Talamas tried a hard shot that was parried back into the box, and Cedric Brenneman slotted the rebound into the back of the net for his first collegiate goal.
In the 80th minute, Talamas assisted again. He juked a Knight in the midfield and quickly advanced the ball. He found Cody Boerema inside the box, and Boerema blasted a right-footed shot into the back of the net.
The fourth and final goal was from Talamas. Cerruti led Talamas with a direct pass, and Talamas muscled off a defender and poked his shot around the goalkeeper for the 4-0 final margin of victory.
A pair of substitutes (Chedy Valdez, Tyler Brueckman) nearly scored over the final 10 minutes for the Lancers, but each was denied.
For the match, Grace owned a 21-9 advantage in shots. Grace also took four of the six corner kicks.
Wottring made three saves to record the shutout, and he was protected well by Gabriel Dos Santos, Philipp Arnold, Kyle Smith and Santagiuliana, among others.
