Box Score
Scranton, PA – Gwynedd-Mercy College's Chris Playford scored a pair of goals and the Griffins held off a furious late second half rally by Marywood University to pick up a 2-1 win in the first round of the Colonial States Athletic Conference men's soccer playoffs on Tuesday evening. Gwynedd-Mercy, now 8-9-3 on the season, advances to the CSAC semifinals where they will take on top-seeded Cabrini College.
Fifth-seeded Gwynedd-Mercy took a 1-0 lead just 1:44 into Tuesday evening's contest when Playford ran onto a ball behind the Marywood defense and finished low to the far post on a breakaway to give the Griffins the early lead.
The fourth-seeded Pacers looked to equalize just minutes later, but Gwynedd-Mercy goalkeeper Mike Leonard stopped Marywood's leading scorer Brett Megee (Easton, PA) on a breakaway. Leonard would later deny the Pacers' Brandon Ritter (Wantage, NJ) from close range to help the visiting Griffins hold a 1-0 halftime lead despite being out-shot 9-3 by Marywood in the opening 45 minutes of play.
Just over five minutes into the second half, Playford extended Gwynedd-Mercy's lead to 2-0 by catching Marywood goalkeeper Jared El Gayeh off his line and beating him with a long chip shot from the wing.
Despite the two-goal deficit, the Pacers continue to pressure the Griffins and with just under 20 minutes to play, William Gordon (Harrisburg, PA) played a thru-ball to Anthony Kapp (Duncannon, PA) who finished nicely to the far post to draw Marywood back within a single goal.
Over the final 19-plus minutes, Marywood peppered Leonard and the Griffins defense with six shots and numerous dangerous restarts, but to no avail as Gwynedd-Mercy held to avenge a 2-1 double-overtime, regular season loss to the Pacers.
Marywood finished the game with a 19-7 advantage in shots for the game and also held a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.
Leonard finished the evening with eight saves to pick up the win for the Griffins while El Gayeh (Baldwin, NY), currently ranked 23rd in the nation in goals against average, made two stop in the loss for the Pacers.
Marywood finishes the 2009 campaign with a 7-9-2 record.
