COLLEGE SOCCER: King offense explodes in 19-1 win

Some sporting events require colorful vocabulary to adequately describe the action on the field.

But on Monday at Parks Field, one number – or make that 19 – said it all.

King scored an unreal 19 goals – in a National Christian College Athletic Association playoff match, no less – as the Tornado eviscerated Tennessee Temple 19-1 to advance to the semifinals of the NCCAA Mid-East Region tournament.

"I mean 19?" said King freshman Zach Caracciolo, who scored four of the Tornado’s can’t-top-that-on-a-PlayStation total. "This is crazy. It’s insane."

According to the record book on the NCAA’s website, King’s 19-goal output is tied for the 13th-highest single-game total in all-level NCAA men’s soccer history, and the third-highest for a Division II school.

It also obliterates the 13-goal mark that previously stood as the record this season for an NCCAA team. Tennessee Temple, which for the most part had a respectable season, including a three-game winning streak, also lost 13-0 to Emmanuel College.

The Tornado led 7-0 at the half, but was just getting warmed up. King scored six more times in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and never took its foot off the gas as Josh Feener put in the final Tornado tally in the 88th minute.

"Basically, we wanted to send a message to everyone in this tournament," said Richard Masters, who started the game in goal for the Tornado and then returned to the field as a forward in the second half to score King’s 15th goal and assist on the 16th.

"We haven’t had the best season, we have a losing record, and we’re showing everybody that we are a good team despite our record. That was the main point today and that’s why we scored 19 and didn’t let up."

King is seeded No. 3 in the NCCAA regional, but entered the tournament at only 5-11-1 after playing a brutal schedule as an NCAA Division II independent.

Nine of the Tornado’s 11 losses were by a single goal, including seven 1-0 losses, but King had no trouble finding the back of the net against the No. 6 Crusaders (4-14), an NAIA squad and the lowest seed in the six-team field.

"When we do score, we score buckets," said Tornado coach Matt Lavinder.

But even Lavinder’s buckets description doesn’t do justice to the 19-goal deluge. Think more along the lines of standing under Niagara Falls, which in fact most of the players on both teams looked like they had done when the match played under a steady downpour was complete.

Take these mind-boggling figures:

• King had scored 29 goals all season entering Monday’s match, meaning the Tornado’s 19-spot now accounts for 40 percent of its entire 2010 output. After coming in averaging 1.7 goals per game, King left averaging 2.7.
• Ten players scored for King, including three (Caracciolo, Tom Winspear, Joe Mayer) who had hat tricks and six who scored their first goal of the year. In the first 17 games of the season, only seven Tornado players had recorded a goal.
• If King and Tennessee Temple had been using American football scoring rules, with goals counting as touchdowns (with extra points), the Tornado would have won 133-7.

But despite King’s ridiculous offensive output, Tennessee Temple can make a claim to having recorded the goal of the game.

Trailing 19-0, the Crusaders pushed ahead and earned a corner kick with 26 seconds remaining. Junior Timothy Ward, one of the few Crusaders with college-level experience before the season, took the kick and bent a beautiful strike into the net from the tricky angle.

Ward celebrated by ripping off his jersey and sliding in front of the Tennessee Temple bench.

"I’m pleased our kids kept fighting," said Crusaders coach Kenrick Liburd.

Liburd said he wasn’t upset that King continued its onslaught even in the game’s waning moments.

"To me it’s football," Liburd said. "I’m an English guy. You’re on the end of things sometimes that aren’t so good and you’re on the other end on other days. It’s just football. I think their kids were just playing. ... How can you put in your subs and ask them to not go out and play? Good luck to them. I hope they do well at the regionals."

In addition to letting Masters out of the goal box in the second half to score his first-ever collegiate goal in the final home game of his career, King did pull its starting forwards back to defense or off the field altogether as the score mounted.

Lavinder defended his decision to allow his players to keep attacking.

"I think it’s disrespectful to not try to score," he said. "... I don’t know why Tennessee Temple, they kept pressing high and leaving space so they weren’t playing defensive at all, even at the end. They didn’t help themselves there."

With the win, the Tornado moves on to the NCCAA regional semifinals in Lookout Mountain, Ga., this weekend. King, which lost in the semifinals last year, will play No. 2 Campbellsville (14-4) on Friday. The final will be played in Georgia on Saturday with an automatic bid to the NCCAA national tournament on the line.

Lavinder said he just hopes his team has some goals left after its record-breaking performance.

"I hope it gives us some momentum and some confidence going into the [weekend]," he said. "With so many young players, we need to have success at the end of the season."

Meanwhile, Liburd said his Crusaders, whose season ended with the loss, can still benefit even from a defeat as devastating as the one the Tornado dished out Monday.

"It’s all a learning experience," he said. "As long as you learn from it, you’ll be all right."

nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543