Nov. 16, 2006

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Joonas Siikala recorded a hat trick as No. 17 Northwood (Fla.) University stunned top seed Auburn University Montgomery 3-2 Thursday (Nov. 16) evening in a second-round match of the 2006 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship at Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.

 

The NAIA Region XIV champion Seahawks - making their first trip to the national tournament - moved to 10-10-2 overall and advance to the quarterfinals Saturday (Nov. 18) at 5 p.m. where they will face the winner of Friday's (Nov. 17) second-round match between No. 8 Azusa Pacific University and No. 9 Lee University. The Senators - which were making their eighth trip (sixth consecutive) to nationals - ended their season at 16-4-1. It was the earliest departure of a No. 1 seed in the tournament since Embry-Riddle (Fla.) University defeated Lindsey Wilson College 4-2 in the second round of 2003 tournament.

 

With the match tied at 1 at the half, Northwood took control of the match just 44 seconds into the second half when Siikala scored his second goal of the match off a flick from Jere Kolehainen. The play was set up by Johnnie Karlsson's free kick from midfield. The Seahawks added an insurance goal at the 79:34 mark when Juhani Koivuranta found Siikala, who booted in his 22^nd tally of the season.

 

Auburn Montgomery stepped up the pressure on the Seahawk defense in the final minutes. Elvar Gudjonsson blasted a goal into the upper corner of the net off an assist from Hjortur Hjartarsson with 2:03 remaining to trim the margin to 3-2, but that would be the final score as Northwood was able to run out the clock.

 

The two teams traded goals in the first half. The Senators took a 1-0 lead on Hjartarsson goal at the 7:04 mark before Siikala evened the match four minutes later.

 

No. 17 NORTHWOOD (FLA.)  3, No. 1 AUBURN MONTGOMERY 2

 

Northwood                               1          2          -           3

Auburn Montgomery                1          1          -           2

 

Scoring: 7:04 - Auburn Montgomery, Hjortur Hjartarsson (33) (Tabatson Manyamo); 11:28 - Northwood, Joonas Siikala (20) (Daniel Gocic); 45:44 - Northwood, Joonas Siikala 2 (21) (Jere Kolehainen, Johnnie Karlsson); 79:34 - Northwood, Joonas Siikala 3 (22) (Juhani Koivuranta); 87:57 - Auburn Montgomery, Elvar Gudjonsson (2) (Hjortur Hjartarsson).

Shots: Northwood 10, Auburn Montgomery 18.

Corner kicks: Northwood 4, Auburn Montgomery 3.

Goalie saves: Northwood (Dustin Vrooman) 3, Auburn Montgomery (Bjarki Gudmundsson) 4.

Fouls: Northwood 22, Auburn Montgomery 19.