Pacers Hold Off Giants for 3-1 Victory
Marywood sits atop the CSAC standings with 18 points with three games remaining

Pacers Hold Off Giants for 3-1 Victory

Men's Soccer - 10/22/2013 5:20:00 PM

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La Plume, PA – Visiting Marywood University remained unbeaten in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's soccer action on Tuesday afternoon by holding off a tenacious Keystone College side, 3-1. The Pacers improve to 9-2-2 on the season and remain atop the CSAC standings with an unblemished, 6-0 mark in conference play, while the Giants slip to 2-12-2 overall and 2-4-1 in league play entering a decisive pair of conference matches with a berth in the CSAC playoffs on the line.

Three Marywood players punched a tally in the goal column. Casey Peckio, Christian Lawlor and Markus Donahoe each produced a score for the Pacers. 
 
Marywood opened the scoring just 6 minutes, 21 seconds into Tuesday's contest when Peckio volleyed a cross from Joshua Bausch into the right side netting to give the visitor's the early lead.  The Pacers doubled their advantage in the 17th minute when Lawlor redirected home a low cross from Daniel Lopez.
 
Keystone battled back into the game in the 30th minute when Dante DeAngelo poked home a shot from eight yards out after taking a short feed from Adam Kashuba in the box.  Marywood restored their two-goal advantage just under four minutes later when Donahoe knocked in his own rebound after taking a long thru-ball from Jamie Mangini.  
 
The Pacers held the 3-1 lead at halftime after outshooting the Giants 9-5 in the opening 45 minutes of play while Keystone had six corner kick chances in the first half to five for Marywood.
 
The Giants dominated territorially for the start of the second half, but couldn't find the back of the net.  Marywood generated several dangerous counterattacks, but Keystone goalkeeper Dany O'Rourke made several outstanding saves to keep the hosts in the contest.  First, the senior netminder made fine diving safe on a two on one rush with 35 minutes left in regulation before making an acrobatic, one-handed parry on a dipping shot from 20 yards out. 
 
Shane Steckel nearly brought the Giants to within one with just over 10 minutes left in regulation, but his header off a Julio Pertuz corner kick was denied by a fine save by Pacers' goalkeeper Austin Wright.  Keystone continued to pressure and generated seven corner kicks in the second half, but Marywood held on for the 3-1 win.
 
The Pacers, who got four saves from Wright in the win, held a 20-11 advantage in shots for the game while Keystone held a 13-8 edge in corner kicks.
 
O'Rourke suffered the loss despite making six saves in goal for the Giants.

Marywood travels to Cabrini College on Saturday for a pivotal match-up for the top spot in the CSAC standings. Marywood's 18 points gives the Pacers a three-point lead over the Cavaliers, Neumann University and Centenary College. 
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