Rose Soccer

As the men’s and women’s soccer teams come to the close of their regular season, they are entering a new era for both teams, looking beyond the regular season into the conference tournament and possibly even further into the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Before last year, Rose-Hulman was a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and was forced to battle soccer power houses Trinity of Texas and DePauw University. In addition, the SCAC lacks a conference tournament, which prevented Rose-Hulman from having a late season opportunity to qualify for the national tournament. The HCAC, on the other hand, conducts a conference tournament whose winner receives an automatic bid to the national tournament.

Rose-Hulman has never appeared in the NCAA Division III Tournament in the school’s history.

The men’s and women’s soccer teams wrap up their regular season tomorrow at Hanover. Here is a guide to the men’s and women’s Soccer team.





Last year, the men’s team went a historic 15-4-1 and 6-2 in the HCAC, the best in schools history. They beat Hanover at home 1-0 in the HCAC semifinals and lost to Transylvania 3-0 in Lexington, KY in the final.

This year, the men are 11-6-1 and 5-1-1 in the HCAC, with their only conference loss coming from nationally ranked and defending conference champions Transylvania. The men have clinched a spot in the HCAC tournament; however their final spot depends on the outcome of other games.

The men are led by leading scorer senior Matt Trowbridge (pictured above). Trowbridge has scored 21 goals so far this season, currently the record and the only time an Engineer has scored 21 goals in a season, ranking him ninth in the nation with 1.18 goals per game. Trowbridge has accumulated 45 goals so far over the four years he’s been at Rose, three goals away from tying for first on the all time scorers list. He has been named the HCAC Male Soccer Player of the Week four times so far this season.

Other key players include sophomore Rhys Evans, junior Trevor Miller, and senior Trey Buck. Evans and Miller each scored two goals in Rose’s 8-1 win over Bluffton. Evans has seven goals and three assists on the season and Miller has five goals and three assists. As the starting Engineer goalkeeper, Buck has played over 1,330 minutes with 24 goals against and 83 saves resulting in a 1.60 goals against average (GAA).

Other strong HCAC teams include Transylvania and Manchester. Transylvania is currently undefeated in the conference with only two losses otherwise. The Pioneers are a nationally ranked team by d3kicks.com and have only allowed three goals so far this season, none of which were scored by an HCAC team. Rose lost to Transylvania 3-0 earlier this season. Manchester is currently on par with the Engineers in the conference at 4-1-1 and 11-4-1 overall. The Engineers and Spartans were not able to determine a winner earlier this season, tying at two goals after 110 minutes of play.





Last year, the women’s team went an impressive 12-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference. The Engineers qualified for the HCAC tournament but lost in the semifinals to Mount St. Joseph 3-1 in Cincinnati, OH.

This year, the women are 16-2 overall and 7-0 in the HCAC and have already clinched the top seed of the regular season. One of their two losses comes from nationally ranked Wittenberg. Rose-Hulman’s most telling win of the season came in a historic 2-0 victory at DePauw, the first time the Engineers have beaten the Tigers in nine tries.The women have clinched the top spot in the conference regardless of the outcome of other conference games. As of Wednesday, the women’s team was ranked second by d3kicks.com, third by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA), and sixth by the NCAA Women’s Soccer Committee in the Great Lakes region. The Engineers are also receiving votes for NSCAA national poll for the first time in school history and are currently on a 13 game winning streak.

The women are led by seniors Jennifer Gordon (pictured above), Sarah Graber and Julie Roebel and by freshman Molly Richardson. Roebel and Richardson lead the conference with 16 goals each and with two and five assists, respectively. Richardson was named HCAC Female Player of the Month for October for her efforts. Graber is not too far behind at 11 goals and eight assists. Gordon is the best in Division III for assists per game at 1.12 per game. The overall effort has led Rose-Hulman to outscore opponents 75-13 and put themselves at number 20 in the nation with 3.76 goals per game.

Other key players include seniors Meggy McGaffigan and Rachel Miller and juniors Jen Lyman and Liz Ridgway. McGaffigan and the defense have allowed just 13 goals in 18 games of play. Miller has led the Engineers with a 0.59 goals against average (GAA) with 39 saves in 1,120 minutes of action. She has allowed just two goals in her last 883 minutes for a 0.20 GAA over the stretch. Lyman and Ridgway are major contributors from the midfield adding in a moderate amount of goals (3 and 2 respectively) and assists (3 and 7). As midfielders, though, their efforts are not always recognized in the statistics.

Other strong HCAC teams include Transylvania and Mount St. Joseph. Transylvania is the defending conference champion and is looking to capture that again this year. Earlier in the year, Rose defeated Transylvania 3-1 in Lexington, KY. The Pioneers had not lost an HCAC match since the end of their 2005 season and had not lost a home HCAC match since October of 2002. Mount St. Joseph is looking for their first HCAC crown since 2005 after falling to Transylvania 3-1 in last year’s final. The Rose women defeated Lions earlier this season 1-0 shortly into the first overtime period.