Dalton State men's soccer wraps regular season as conference's top seed

Daniel Mayes, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·2 min read

Oct. 31—The Dalton State College men's soccer team head into the postseason undefeated and as the Southern States Athletic Conference regular season champions.

The top-ranked team in the NAIA needed a road win over Brewton-Parker (2-11-2, 2-5-1 SSAC) in Mount Vernon on Saturday to clinch the top seed for the SSAC tournament, and the Roadrunners (14-0-3, 7-0-1) got the 1-0 win it needed.

Dalton State scored a second half goal and held serve for a sixth-straight shutout as the Roadrunners got past William Carey, the only SSAC team that was able to tie Dalton State this year, in the conference standings. With 22 points, Dalton State is the top seed for the conference tournament, which begins later this week for opening rounds. Dalton State and William Carey, which finished as the second seed with 20 points in the standings, receive a bye to the semifinal round beginning next week in Montgomery, Alabama.

In Saturday's game, which was played after being postponed earlier in the season, Dalton State used a big shot advantage to finally convert the winning goal in the 71st minute of action.

Josh Ramos, who tallied five shots, got one to go off of an assist from Noah Cicoria.

Dalton State had 19 shots while holding Brewton-Parker to three total shots. The teams matched in shots on frame though, as all three shots for the Barons were on goal and just three of 19 would have been scores for DSC.

Dalton State goalkeeper Michael Barrueta stopped all three shots as the dominant Roadrunner defense kept the shutout.

Javier Morejon tallied four shots, while Guilherme Franca had three and both Justin Riescher and Jaime Mendiola tallied two.

It's the second time in three years that Dalton State has claimed the regular season SSAC title. The Roadrunners finished 6-0 in the conference in 2020-21 and earned the conference championship when the tournament final was called off due to weather concerns.

Dalton State starts play in the conference tourney on Wednesday, Nov. 9, against the winner of a first-round game between Faulkner and Life. Should Dalton State win in the semifinals, the championship match is Friday, Nov. 11.