Marywood Falls to Neumann in Double-Overtime, 2-1
Brett Megee and the Pacers suffered 2-1 double overtime loss to Neumann on Senior Day.

Marywood Falls to Neumann in Double-Overtime, 2-1

Men's Soccer - 10/30/2011 6:16:00 PM

Box Score

Scranton, PA – Neumann University claimed the top seed in the upcoming Colonial States Athletic Conference men's soccer playoffs with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Marywood University on Sunday afternoon.  The Knights improve to 11-4 this fall and finish atop the CSAC with an 8-1 conference mark while the Pacers finish the regular season with a 12-4 record (7-2 CSAC).  Both teams have earned first round byes and will host semifinal games on Thursday.
 
In a rematch of the 2010 CSAC Final, both teams had opportunities over the first thirty minutes of play, but a goalpost kept Brandon Ritter from putting the Marywood in front and Pacers' goalkeeper Jared El Gayeh kept Neumann in check.  However, the Knights would take a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute as Brandon Green played a low cross from the baseline that Andrew Leissing ran onto and finished from close range.
 
After trailing at halftime by a goal, Marywood was able to level the score at one-apiece in the 62nd minute thanks to great individual effort by Christian Lawlor, who muscled his way through a crowd of Knight defenders and scored off a rebound of his own shot.
 
With the goal, Lawlor set a single-season record for points as the sophomore forward now has 28 points on the season.  Lawlor also tied the program record for goals in a season with his 11th tally of the fall.
 
Neither team was able to find the back of the net over the final 28 minutes of play and, much like last fall's conference title contest, the game headed to overtime.  Due to tie-breaking criteria, Marywood needed a win on Sunday and pushed numbers forward in the extra periods looking for the golden goal as a tie would do them no good.
 
The Pacers nearly won the contest just 15 seconds into the first overtime, but a free kick off the foot of Ryan Jones missed the upper left corner of the net by inches.
 
Neumann, the defending conference champions, was able to take advantage of the Pacers throwing numbers forward in the second overtime and scored on a counterattack 3:54 into the second overtime.  Michael Atallian found Leissing alone at the back post where Leissing netted the game-winner for his second goal of the contest.
 
Neumann held a 23-10 advantage in shots for the game and held a slim, 6-4 edge in corner kicks.
 
Bob Mastrillo made six saves to earn the victory while El Gayeh also finished with six stops in the loss.

Marywood and Neumann will both host CSAC semifinal games on Thursday.  Neumann will host the lowest remaining seed from Tuesday night's first round matches while Marywood will get the highest seed left.  Third-seed Cabrini College hosts sixth-seed Gwynedd-Mercy College in one contest while fourth-seed Rosemont College hosts Keystone College, the five-seed, in Tuesday's first round games.
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