Semifinal victory sends Men’s Soccer back to NCAA DIII Championship game

Connecticut College defender Alessandro Hovarth Diano ’25 sent a bending free kick past No. 21 Washington and Lee’s goalie and into the top left corner of the net in the 60th minute of the NCAA Division III semifinal game to propel the Camels past the Generals 1-0 and into the National Championship game for the second time in three years.

The Dec. 5 matchup on Peter Johann Memorial Field in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a rematch of the 2021 semifinals, which Conn won 2-1. The Camels will now take on NESCAC rival No. 8 Amherst in the National Championship game—which is also a rematch of the 2021 finals, which Conn won on penalty kicks after the teams battled to a 1-1 tie. The game, which will be livestreamed here, kicks off at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7.

The Camels and the Generals battled hard in the first half of the semifinal game, as neither side wanted to give an inch. Conn had the first look at goal, after the Camels were awarded a corner kick in the 12th minute. The ball was played in the box to defender Jack Kelesoglu ’25, who headed it toward the goal, with midfielder Marco Perugini ’27 deflecting it to the net, but General goalie Will Joseph came up with the save. 

Just over 11 minutes later, Washington and Lee nearly opened the scoring as PJ Ryan let a shot go that goalie Peter Silvester ’25 deflected off the crossbar to keep the game scoreless. Silvester added two more saves later in the half and the game remained deadlocked at the break.

“We definitely asked a lot of them,” Silvester said of the defense in front of him. “When you’re a ball-playing team and you high press, you leave a lot of space to protect behind them. Washington and Lee has one of the best attackers in the country and I think they did a very good job of dealing with him.”

Silvester was called upon early again in the second half, as the senior net minder came up with two more saves in the first 2.5 minutes. Just past the 14-minute mark, Conn had a golden opportunity to open the scoring. Forward Matt Scoffone ’25 was taken down just outside of the box, and on the ensuing free kick, Horvath Diano took the shot, bending it inside the far post past Joseph to make it 1-0 Camels at 59:17.