Women's Soccer | 11/4/2015 9:08:00 AM

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Having tied SUNY Poly at home in late September, Pennsylvania College of Technology women's soccer coach John McNichol is looking for a win on the road at Poly at 4:30 p.m. today to propel his team into the North Eastern Athletic Conference semifinals.

"It was a very hard-fought match," McNichol said of his team's 2-2 deadlock against SUNY Poly. "It (Wednesday) will be a challenge, it's four hours away. They're playing very well right now and have had some great results over the last two weeks. ... We need to stay organized and able to defend. We've given up some goals recently that we probably shouldn't have. ... We have to take advantage of our chances and minimize what they're able to do."

Penn College closed out the regular season with an 8-8-2 overall record, 7-3-2 in the conference. The Wildcats made significant strides from its 5-12, 4-7 finish in 2014.

"I really felt at the end of our season last year and through our spring season that our returning girls did a fantastic job of buying into what we wanted to do as a coaching staff, and adding in a core group of young players as well we jelled really quickly and they worked extremely hard," McNichol explained.

"We had a great season in terms of what we were looking to accomplish. To qualify for the conference tournament in our second year in the conference is very exciting. We've come a long way. The girls continue to work hard and we're really looking forward to the playoff run this week."

If Penn College wins on Wednesday, it will play again Saturday in the semifinals against Penn State Abington at Penn State Berks. The championship match is scheduled Sunday also at Penn State Berks. In the other bracket on Wednesday, Lancaster Bible College hosts Keuka College. Berks and Penn State Abington received first-round playoff byes.

Penn State Berks led the NEAC during the regular season with a 12-0 mark, followed by Penn State Abington at 11-1, SUNY Poly 8-2-2, Lancaster Bible and Keuka College both 8-3-1, Penn College 7-3-2, Wells College 6-6, Cazenovia and Morrisville State both 4-7-1, SUNY Cobleskill 3-9, Wilson College 2-10, Gallaudet 1-11 and St. Elizabeth 0-12.

LIVE STATS: Wednesday's match will have live statshere.
SEASON STATS:Penn College SUNY Poly