WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Pennsylvania College of Technology men's soccer team heads into Saturday's United East Conference quarterfinal match at Notre Dame of Maryland with one goal — win and move on. The fifth-seeded Wildcats (9-6-2, 4-2-2 UEC) travels to the fourth-seeded Gators (4-6-4, 4-2-2 UEC) for a 12 p.m., kickoff.
Saturday's winners advance to the conference semifinals, next Wednesday and the Championship match is set to take place a week from Saturday.
When the Wildcats hosted Notre Dame on Sept. 4, the teams fought to a scoreless tie, with Penn College taking six shots on goal and Notre Dame taking four. Penn College goalkeeper Justin Crismale, of Glen Gardner, New Jersey, had four saves, and Notre Dame goalie David Von Mentlen had six.
"At the beginning of this year, we were in a bit of an unknown as we welcomed in so many new faces after graduating 13 seniors. As a team, we quickly meshed and were able to get a few key results early that helped build confidence and momentum. That confidence helped us start conference play on the front foot and put us in a good spot where we were able to finish fifth (losing out on the fourth seed) by tiebreaker," Penn College coach Tyler Mensch said.
In conference matches, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents 14-9 and led in shots on goal 69-34. Logan Pietrzak, of Philadelphia, leads the offense with four goals, while Garrett Gill, of Florida, N.Y., and Silas Miller, of Mechanicsburg, each have scored twice. Jimmy Friedman, of East Greenville, Sean McGroarty, of Yardley, and Elliott Rattiram, of Landisville, each have two assists.
In the goal, Crismale allowed nine goals, has a 1.20 goals-against average, owns a 0.727 save percentage and a 4-2-2 record.
"We need to continue to be solid defensively. We have done a really good job of limiting teams to dangerous scoring chances, and if we can continue to play lockdown defense, we have an opportunity to advance. Playoff matches are usually tight and low scoring, so the longer we can hold teams scoreless, the chances of us being able to find a goal rise significantly," Mensch said. "Offensively, we have not been scoring a lot in the flow of play. We need to continue to draw fouls that lead to dangerous set pieces for us. We have been a really good set piece team and I'm hopeful that will continue during the playoffs."
Notre Dame has been outscored 14-12 in its United East outings with four players doing all of the scoring: Tassilo Lehmkuhl (five goals), Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos (three goals) and Martin Rasiwala and Cristo Sanchez Cabrera (two goals each).
In four starts, Von Mentlen has allowed 11 goals, has a 2.30 goals-against average, owns a 0.732 save percentage and is 2-2-1. Mateo Gularte started twice, didn't allow a goal, has a 0.00 goals-against average, owns a 1.000 save percentage and is 2-0.
"I say it every year, playoff soccer is always about surviving and advancing. If we play sound defense and capitalize on our chances, we have the potential to go on a run," the coach added.
Also in the field on Saturday are top-seeded two-time defending champion St. Mary's (Md.) College (12-5-1, 8-0-0 UEC), second-seed Penn State Harrisburg (9-6-2, 7-0-1 UEC), third-seed Penn State Abington (8-6-4, 6-1-1UEC) and sixth-seed Lancaster Bible College (8-6-3, 4-3-1 UEC). Seventh-seed Cairn University (5-9-3, 3-4-1 UEC) defeated 10th-seed Wilson College (3-10-5, 1-4-3 UE), 3-1 and ninth-seeded Penn State Berks (4-14-1, 2-5-1 UEC) defeated eighth-seed Valley Forge (4-11-3, 2-4-2 UEC), 4-2 to advance from Tuesday's first round matchups.
