Jimmies nipped at nationals

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The Jimmies went down Monday night, but not without a fight.

Jamestown College, facing national tournament host Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), scored first and then tied it at 2-all, but the Warhawks got the lone second-half goal and hung on for a 3-2 win.

The Jimmies were playing in the national tournament’s second round for the first time, but left little doubt in anybody’s minds that they belonged.

“It was a close game. A really close game,” JC coach Phillip Bohn said. “It was one of those games where you have two really good, really evenly matched teams and the little details, just a few mistakes ended up costing us.”

Sophomore Jade Johnson capped a big season with another superb performance. The West Fargo product gave the Jimmies a 1-0 lead at the 15:04 mark of the opening half with an unassisted goal.

The next two tallies went to the Warhawks as Elvar Sigurdson became the first multi-goal scorer of Monday’s four second-round contests. The first came at 20:39 and then Auburn went ahead 2-1 at 32:26.

The Jimmies answered, though.

With less than five minutes left in the opening half, Johnson booted in his second of the game and team-leading 14th of the season to level it. George Gauld got his sixth assist of the season on the play.

“We thought that the first 15 minutes of each half and the last five minutes of each would be really critical,” Bohn said. “We got through the first 15 minutes of the game in good shape, but the first 15 minutes of the second half, when they got the go-ahead goal, they owned us pretty well.

“I would say, that other than that stretch, we played pretty well.”

The Warhawks, who improved to 18-3-2 with the win, got the go-ahead goal just over seven minutes into the second half, when their top forward — Agust Arnarson — connected for his 16th of the campaign.

The Warhawks had a slight edge in shots. JC keeper Thomas Cooke recorded all four of his saves in the second half. Vignir Johannesson made both of his stops over the final 45 minutes.

“Our guys battled. I would say that the last 25 minutes or more of the game our guys battled as hard as they had in any game this season,” Bohn said. “It wasn’t our best game of the season, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying or effort. I was really proud of how hard our guys played. I don’t think we left much out there, we just came up a little short against a really good team.”

The Jimmies finished the season with a record of 16-5-1, five more wins than their previous best total of 11, coming last season.

Jamestown College graduates just two seniors — former Blue Jay Ross Perleberg and Jonner Lodge.

“Overall it was a quality season. I thought the guys did a really good job of living up to the expectations they had for themselves,” Bohn said. “It’s tough to swallow and look back at things now, because our guys truly believed we could come down here and win. But clearly, this was a really good step for our program and I think we proved to a lot of people that we’re a team and a program on the move.”

In other second-round matches Monday, Hannibal-LaGrange, Mo., knocked off No. 4 seed Rio Grande, Ohio 2-1 in double overtime; No. 3 Concordia, Calif., blanked Ashford, Iowa 4-0 and top-seeded Lindsey Wilson, Ky., edged Concordia, Ore. 2-1. Four more second-round matches will be played today. The quarterfinals are Wednesday followed by the semis on Friday and championship Saturday.

NAIA National Tournament

At Montgomery, Ala.

Second round

Auburn Montgomery, Ala. 3, Jamestown College 2

Jamestown College 2 0 — 2

Auburn Mont. 2 1 — 3

Scoring summary

First half

1, JC, Jade Johnson, 15:04; 2, AM, Elvar Sigurdsson (Angel Gonzalez, Axel Vignisson), 20:39; 3, Sigurdsson, 32:26; 4, JC, Johnson (George Gauld), 40:31.

Second half

5, AM, Agust Arnarson (Matias Aristegui), 52:14.

Keeper saves: JC, Thomas Cooke 0-4—4. AM, Vignir Johannesson 0-2—2.

Shots by half: JC, 4-4—8. AM, 4-9—13.

Corner kicks: JC 1-3—4. AM, 1-4—5.

Fouls: JC 2-7—9. AM, 6-7—13.

Jamestown College starting lineup: Thomas Cooke, Ben Eastwell, Ross Perleberg, Dominic O’Connor, Jonathan Jacobs, Matt Balshaw, Jack Hartley, George Gauld, Jack Keeling, Jonner Lodge, Jade Johnson.

Records: Auburn Montgomery 18-3-2; Jamestown College 16-5-1.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

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