Men's Soccer Team Earns Top Seed Going Into Playoffs
Published 10.20.2004
On the last day of the regular season Tuesday, the Penn College men's soccer team beat Harrisburg Area Community College while Northampton Community College beat Penn State Hazleton. That put Penn College into the playoff driver's seat as the top seed. The Wildcats will host fourth-seeded Harrisburg at 1 p.m. on Saturday in an Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference/Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Conference North Division semifinal. In the other semifinal Saturday, second-seeded Penn State Hazleton will entertain third-seeded Northampton. Saturday's winners advance to the north final next Wednesday, with that winner going into the PCAA final Oct. 30. Penn College blanked Harrisburg 5-0, getting scoring from five different players, but lost top goalie Ryan Swartz (Muhlenberg) to an injury. "We're going in against a team we can beat, but without our ace," said Wildcat coach Andy Richardson, whose team is now 16-2 overall and finished 11-1 during the conference's regular season. Adam Cleland (East Penn) will step in at goalie. "I don't think we'll encounter any problems, Adam's quite capable as a keeper as well, and as long as our team defense and our finishing ability and our attacking front keep playing the way we have been getting a lot of tallies in we should be fine, but it will be different," Richardson continued. "I'm glad we got back on top (in the division) so we don't have to travel," the coach added. The PCAA title is the second that Penn College is seeking this season, as it won the Commonwealth Campus Athletic Conference crown last weekend.