Saints Soccer Top Stories
November 7, 2009
Two Saints Honored
Hamid Dicko Dustin Dees
Junior forward Hamid Dicko and freshman midfielder Dustin Dees were each
honored with two postseason awards at the ACCA National Tournament. Both
players received All-American awards, chosen by ACCA officials, and they
also received All-Tournament First Team awards, voted on by the coaches.
Congratulations to Hamid Dicko and Dustin Dees.
November 7, 2009
Hillsdale Wins Third Place Game
The Hillsdale Saints soccer team ended the season on a high note,
beating Barclay College 2-0 to take third place in the ACCA tournament.
“It was a great way to end the season,” Coach Moore said. “The boys
played very well, and they deserve to get a result today.”
With the game deadlocked at 0-0 at halftime, the Saints knew they had to
step up their game to take home a trophy. “I wanted that trophy so bad,”
freshman midfielder Wesley Hess said. “We weren't going home empty
handed, not today.” Hess did his part, assisting the Saints first goal from a
corner kick, with Richard Boadu heading it home. “Wes has been taking
outstanding corners for us all season, and I had a good feeling about
that one when it left his foot,” Coach Moore said.
Gilbert Coulibaly capped the scoring a few minutes later, getting in
behind the defense and smashing the ball just under the bar. With the
way they were playing defense, the second goal made the Saints very
confident they would come away with the win. Hamid Dicko and Tim Lofties
also had outstanding games, but couldn’t manage to finish any chances late.
“I’m very pleased with the performance today,” Coach Moore said. “We
made the adjustments we needed to at halftime, and I think that made the
difference. We had several more chances than they did in the second half.”
November 5, 2009
Hillsdale Comes Back Twice to Defeat Emmaus
Hillsdale College opened the ACCA National Tournament in fine fashion
today, earning a victory after falling behind twice to third ranked
Emmaus Bible College. The win puts Hillsdale into the semifinal game
against Central Christian.
It was a hard fought and entertaining game, going back and forth from
the opening whistle. Emmaus scored early after a mistake by goalkeeper
Jake Cox. Hamid Dicko equalized just moments later, finishing a clever
pass from DeJoune Johnson. “We had to get that goal back for Jake,”
Hamid said later. “He has played so well for us all season, we had to
pick him up right there.”
The score would stay level at 1-1 until halftime, but the Eagles from
Emmaus would open the scoring again in the second half. It appeared that
Emmaus would hang on for the victory until Hillsdale won a free kick
about thirty yards from the goal.
Gilbert Coulibaly and Wesley Hess lined up over the ball to take the
kick, and Wes came up with a plan. He told Gilbert he would run over the
ball and sneak in toward the back post, and Gilbert would chip the ball
in behind the defense. Gilbert said “It sounded like a good idea, they
didn’t have any extra defenders over there, so it worked out perfectly.”
It did work out for the Saints, with Hess getting in behind the defense
and Gilbert placing the ball perfectly in his path. The goalkeeper
blocked the first shot, but Hess got the rebound and blasted it into the
goal.
A few minutes later, Hamid Dicko found himself in the right place at the
right time to take advantage of a mistake by the goalkeeper from Emmaus.
Hamid made the most of the chance, sliding the ball into an open net in
the 82nd minute. That goal put the Saints in the lead, and they hung on
to win 3-2.
The win puts the Saints in the semifinal game tomorrow, Nov. 6.
October 15, 2009
Saints Lose Heartbreaker
Gilbert Coulibaly
Hillsdale lost the region semifinal game at Dallas Christian in a
penalty shootout. “The boys played their hearts out today, I’ve never
been more proud of them,” Coach Moore said.
The Saints took the lead in the second half on a great shot from Roberto
Hernandez. As time was running out on the second half, it appeared that
the Saints were poised to win the game and move on to the regional
final. But it wasn’t meant to be, with Dallas scoring the equalizing
goal in the 85th minute.
Overtime was scoreless, so that took the game to a penalty kick
shootout. Hillsdale started strong, with Hamid Dicko making the first
shot. But after it was all over, the Saints came up short.
“That was probably the best game we’ve played all season,” Coach Ryan
said. “It’s too bad that it ended that way. There’s no doubt that we
gave it all we had, it just didn’t go our way today.”
The Saints hope to rebound in the upcoming ACCA National Tournament.
September 19, 2009
Hillsdale Bounces Back from Tough Loss
The Saints had a chance to quickly erase an unlucky defeat from the
night before, and they took advantage of it, defeating the Central Bible
College Spartans 7-0.
Hillsdale jumped on the Spartans early, with Hamid Dicko giving the
Saints the lead in the first half. The Saints continued to pound the
goal and had the lion’s share of the possession. Center back Jon-Marc
Kilpatrick added to the scoring with a header from a corner kick later
in the half.
“I felt great today,” Kilpatrick said. “We were able to control the ball
most of the game and I even got forward for a few chances. Total team
effort today, its great to put another game in the win column."
September 18, 2009
The Saints Drop a Close One at BBC
Hillsdale suffered a tough loss Friday night under the lights in
Springfield. It was a hard fought match, but the Saints could not
overcome an early goal, losing 1-0 to Baptist Bible College.
“I’ve never seen a team dominate like that and not come away with the
victory,” midfielder Dustin Dees said.
The Saints did have their share of chances, with Hamid Dicko missing a
breakaway and Michael Hernandez twice hitting the post in the first
half. Defender Jordan Kelly beat the goalie twice with headers, only to
see the ball sail wide of the goal both times.
Coach Moore summed up the game by saying “It was a tough one to lose; we
did everything we should have except for finishing. Give them credit,
they got that early goal and were able to hang on, and their goalkeeper
played an outstanding game. I think we will learn a lot from this loss."
August 25, 2009
On a sweltering August afternoon, the Hillsdale College Saints defeated Barclay College 2-0 to open their 2009 season. The score was level at 0-0 in the second half until Devin Jones opened the scoring for the Saints. Hamid Dicko would later add another goal, and the Saints defense would withstand the Barclay attack to earn the victory. The Saints were encouraged by the result and hope that this was the first of many wins this season.