Lawlor’s Late Heroics Give Marywood 3-2 Win
Christian Lawlor scored two goals, including the game-winner, in Marywood's 3-2 win at Baptist Bible on Tuesday.

Lawlor’s Late Heroics Give Marywood 3-2 Win

Men's Soccer - 10/25/2011 6:09:00 PM

Box Score

Clarks Summit, PA – Christian Lawlor scored with 53 seconds remaining in regulation to give Marywood University a thrilling, 3-2 victory over host Baptist Bible College in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's soccer action on Tuesday afternoon.  Lawlor, who finished the game with two goals, tied the Pacers' single-season points record as Marywood notched their sixth-straight win to improve to 12-3 on the season and 7-1 in conference play.
 
Marywood's win, coupled with Cabrini College's 3-2 overtime loss at Philadelphia Biblical University, assures the Pacers one of the top-two seeds in next week's CSAC playoffs.  Marywood earns a first round bye and will host one semifinal game.
 
Battling a difficult, natural grass playing surface at Baptist Bible, the visiting Pacers took the lead at the 23:02 mark when Josh Bausch slotted a ball across the Defenders' box that Ryan Jones ran onto and drilled home for his second goal of the season.  The score remained 1-0 at halftime with both teams having several great scoring chances go by the wayside.
 
Baptist Bible equalized early in the second half, as Benjamin Clark scored on a stunning strike from 40 yards out that beat Marywood goalkeeper Jared El Gayeh and tucked in just under the crossbar to level the score at one-apiece.  Clark's goal snapped the Pacers' record-setting streak of keeping the ball out of their net at 537:36 while El Gayeh's individual streak, also a program-record, ended at 481:19. 
 
Marywood wasted little time reclaiming the lead and needed just 1:10 to forge back in front when Kris Kassel slotted a thru-ball to Lawlor that the sophomore ran onto and finished to the near post.
 
The feisty Defenders would counter for a second time just over three minutes later though as Alan Elliott headed a pass from Caleb Janho into the far netting to knot the score at 2-2 at the 56:22 mark. 
 
Marywood battled to reclaim the lead, and after a shot by Matthew Homishak hit the post, and efforts by Brandon Ritter and Brett Megee both missed the far post by inches, the game seemed destined for overtime before Lawlor's late heroics.  Kassel again found himself with space in the center of the field and played a thru-ball to Lawlor where the sophomore finished off his 10th goal of the season at the 89:07 mark to give the Pacers the thrilling win.
 
Lawlor, the reigning CSAC Player of the Week, notched his third-consecutive game-winning goal and extended his point-scoring streak to six games.  The sophomore has 15 points on seven goals and three assists in the last six games and tied Rob Cherrington's single-season points record of 26 set in 2001.
 
Marywood outshot Baptist Bible 24-12 for the game and El Gayeh finished the afternoon with five saves to earn his 12th win of the season.
 
The Defenders, who fell to 7-9-1 this fall (1-7-1 CSAC), got seven saves from goalkeeper Luke Williams.
 
Marywood will host Neumann University in their regular season finale on Saturday with the top-seed in the CSAC playoffs on the line.  The rematch of the last year's conference championship game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Scranton.
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