Early Stainrod score helps Roadrunners to soccer quarterfinals

Published 2:15 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2024

At Wichita, Kansas’ Stryker Sports Complex for their round of 16 game against Michigan’s Spring Arbor University in the 2024 NAIA Men’s Soccer Championship tournament, it didn’t take long for Dalton State College’s Roadrunners to get a goal on Monday.

Only 40 seconds into the game, junior striker Jack Stainrod sent the ball into the net from an assist by Jip van den Essen.

The Roadrunners wouldn’t score again, but that early goal was all they needed to defeat Spring Arbor with a shutout victory to secure their spot in the eight-team quarterfinal round for the third time in program history on Thursday.

The No. 1 ranked Roadrunners also extend their undefeated streak to 19-0-2 for the 2024 season. Spring Arbor, which toppled Iowa’s Clarke University 2-0 in the second round of the tournament, ends its season 13-7-3.

The Roadrunners entered their sixth championship tournament with a second round 3-0 victory over Eastern Oregon at Dalton Stadium on Nov. 23 after receiving a bye in the first round.

During the game against Eastern Oregon Stainrod was responsible for two of the three goals, with assists by van den Essen and Kazuma Ishizuka in the first half and Juan Demichelis and Giovanni Poliero in the second half.

Following his winning goal against Spring Arbor, Stainrod, a native of Barnsley, England, leads the Roadrunners with 11 goals and two assists.

The Roadrunners had four shots in the first half and hung on late in the second half to stop the Cougars. Senior goalkeeper Nicolas Leite had six saves to continue Dalton State’s shutout streak in the tournament, despite Spring Arbor outshooting the Roadrunners 10-4 overall and 6-2 on frame.

The Roadrunners’ next opponent is Nebraska’s Bellevue University, which also shut out its opponent — Louisiana State University in Shreveport — in a 1-0 victory in the round of 16 Monday.

Dalton State and Bellevue will return to the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita for the quarterfinal round on Thursday at 10 a.m. Central Standard Time. A win for the Roadrunners would put them in the NAIA semifinals for the first time in school history.