AMCC

BEHREND, MEDAILLE FAMILIAR FACES IN AMCC MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

BEHREND, MEDAILLE FAMILIAR FACES IN AMCC MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

For the fourth time in five years, Penn State Behrend and Medaille College will battle against each other in the AMCC men's soccer title game. #1 Penn St. Behrend defeated #4 Franciscan University in semifinal action, while #3 Medaille pulled off the upset victory over #2 Mount Aloysius College.

Behrend sophomore M Aaron Harris scored the only goal of the first half to give the Lions a 1-0 lead 12:37 in.

The Lions wasted no time creating effective scoring chances throughout the second half, as senior forward Matt Dziadosz gave Behrend a 2-0 lead about five minutes into the second. Two minutes later, junior Dakota Lange extended the lead to three after finding an opening behind the Franciscan defense.The fourth goal came in the 73th minute when Cole Ferguson netted a shot near post. 

Franciscan got on the board late in the game when Franciscan midfielder JP Bobak put high pressure on the Lions' defense. Bobak was able to steal the ball from the defense and slotted a shot past the Behrend goalkeeper to avoid the shutout for a second time this season.

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The #3 seed Medaille College Mavericks looked to avenge a regular season 4-3 overtime loss to the #2 Mounties that was the AMCC season opener for both teams.

The two teams played the first half to a (0-0) draw, With the Mounties holding the slight edge in chances with an 11-9 advantage in shots overall, with Medaille holding a small advantage in shots on goal (7-5).

Medaille's best chance came late in the second half when they had three straight corner kicks. All three kicks were taken by Claudio Romandino. The first corner provided the Mavs a very good scoring chance, as it was headed on the far side but he saw very nice save by the keeper with the rebound blocked.  The second kick was booted right out by  the Mounties defense but kicked out of end line for another corner. The third corner went into box, was headed down and ended on the foot of Lachlan Wilkinson who buried the chance from the top of the box for his ninth goal of the season in the games 85th minute to put the Mavericks up 1-0. Kyle Ferguson got the assist on the play with the header.

The Mounties had a very good chance just a few minutes later but a big defensive play by defender Levi Bojang prevented the goal and helped seal the win for the Mavericks.

Medaille GK Callum Christie made eight saves in net for the Mavericks, picking up the win and the shutout.  Mount Aloysius GK James Eyre made 13 saves for the Mounties in the losing effort.

The win sends Medaille back to the AMCC Championship Game for the (12th) time in (13) years. Behrend will host the No. 3 seed Medaille in the AMCC title game this Saturday at 1 p.m.