The Elizabethtown College men’s soccer team finished out the regular season with a 1-0 home win against Widener University on Senior Day last Saturday.
The Widener Pride soccer team came into the game at Ira R. Herr Field with the MAC Commonwealth Conference’s worst in-conference record, 1-4-3, their only win having happened against Lebanon Valley College last Wednesday.
The Blue Jays started the game with a high-pressure offense. Senior forward Zach Lee started out the game with a the first shot in the fourth minute, but it sailed high. Junior defender David Boretti got Etown on the scoreboard in the sixth minute on the second shot of the game. Sophomore defender Martin Fevre played a long ball into the box and Boretti got his head on it. The ball deflected off of a defender and over the head of Widener goalkeeper Jakub Valdner. The goal was Boretti’s fourth of the season, the second most on the team behind junior Andrew Sandridge’s six. Boretti also has the team high in assists with four.
After the first goal, the Blue Jays kept up the pressure. Senior Luis Devia, sophomore Martin Fevre, and freshman Brent Batory put together a few chances for a second Etown goal, but at the half, the score remained 1-0. Etown outshot the Pride seven to two in the first half. Each team had two corner kicks.
Etown could not get their offense going as well in the second half as they had in the first. Fevre and junior Zach Hollinger generated shots in the 65th and 67th minutes, respectively, but they were saved by Jakub Valdner. Widener’s best chance to score came in the sixty-seventh minute when the Pride’s Alec DelConte had a one-timer in the box, but the shot went right into sophomore goalkeeper Rodrigo Barrera’s hands. Tensions between the two sides escalated in the second with a couple of hard fouls that resulted in three yellow cards, but despite a push at the end of the period, Widener was unable to grab a goal, and Etown finished their regular season with a one-goal win. Barrera, who had two saves, got his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Widener outshot the Blue Jays in the second half five to three, but finished with seven to Etown’s ten. The Pride had five corner kick opportunities in the game, while the Blue Jays only had three. With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 10-6-2 (7-2 CC) on the season, clinching the No. 2 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Conference, behind only Messiah College in the standings. The preseason poll had Etown at third behind Messiah and Lebanon Valley. The win also added to Etown’s 19-2-0 all-time record against Widener, this being their fifth straight win against the Pride.
The Blue Jays finished the regular season with the highest save percentage and the third highest shot total in the conference. No team other than Messiah finished the season with a lower number of goals allowed.
Etown began its playoff run in front of their home crowd at Ira R. Herr Field when they took on the Alvernia Crusaders in a game that would go down as one for the history books.
Etown had defeated Alvernia earlier in the season 2-1 for their 300th victory in program history. The game opened up with both teams moving the at an intense pace.
Junior Andrew Sandridge got the Blue Jays on the board first off a cross from Hollinger to put Etown on the board in the 26th minute for his 7th goal of the season. The two team entered halftime with Etown leading 1-0.
The Crusaders wasted no time in the second half to tie the game up at one as Alvernia’s Tyler Arnold received a pass from teammate Tyler Reinoehl to beat Berrera for the equalizer.
The two teams played out the rest of regular time scoreless. The two teams then played both overtime period to a 0-0 draw, forcing the teams to decide the contest with penalty kicks.
Hollinger was the first to step to the penalty strike for the Etown and did not disappoint. Hollinger ripped a shot past Alvernia’s goalie to give the Blue Jays an early lead.
Barrera then stopped two Crusader shots and just needed to stop Alvernia’s RJ Fisher from scoring to advance Etown to the championship. Barrera did just that, stopping Fisher with a diving save to the left to help the Blue Jays to victory.
Etown will now take on the Lycoming Warriors in the Commonwealth Conference Championship on Saturday at Ira. R. Herr Field.
