Penn College women host soccer playoff

Published 11.03.2019

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Athletics
Wildcat Weekly

In a busy weekend for Pennsylvania College of Technology athletics, the women’s soccer team secured the No. 4 seed and will host fifth-seeded SUNY Poly in a North Eastern Athletic Conference playoff match at 6 p.m. Tuesday at UPMC Field while the men’s cross-country team placed fifth at the NEAC Championships, the wrestling team saw its season begin, and seasons ended for the men’s soccer and women’s volleyball squads.



Women’s soccer
Entering this past weekend’s matches, coach Christa Matlack hoped her team would get off to a good start Friday with a home win against winless Wells College. It did, scoring a 4-0 victory and earning its seven straight NEAC win in a row. Morgan Brooks, of Bellefonte, put the Wildcats on the scoreboard in the third minute and Dominique Brown, of Benton, added the second goal in the seventh minute on an assist from Tiffany Brown, of Mechanicsburg. Also scoring for Penn College were Kaelan Cronan, of Leesport, and Miya Roman, of Benton, both off deflections. The Wildcats dominated in shots 27-0 (14-0 on goal) and in corner kicks 5-0. Taylor Gonzales, of Lititz, and Charlee Marshall, of Snow Shoe, split halves in goal in recording the shutout.

In the regular-season finale Saturday at home against conference once-beaten Keuka College, Penn College’s seven-match NEAC win streak ended, 4-1, as they went to 9-8-1 overall and 8-3 in the conference. Cronan scored the lone Wildcat goal in the 42nd minute while Keuka scored twice before and twice after that. Keuka led in shots 20-9 (11-3 on goal) and in corner kicks 4-2. Gonzales went the distance in goal. Before the match, seniors Tiffany Brown; Brooks; Sammy Thomas, of Elysburg; Madison Kistler, of Kutztown; Jenna Rejman, of East Aurora, New York; Francesca Timpone, of Smithtown, New York; and Tayla Derr, of Selinsgrove were honored.

The conference season got off to a slow 1-2 start for the Wildcats, but then things turned around with the win streak that propelled them into the playoffs for the fifth year in a row and second under Matlack.

“The season’s been a little bit more inconsistent with our play, especially toward the beginning, but in the last few games we’ve really started putting things together and now they’re playing really well,” Matlack said.

“The girls have been working hard and have really improved on a lot of their skills that were lacking as far as passing and possession. We realized we were losing some of the games that we shouldn’t have been losing and so we’re in a position where we’re trying to find out how to really put together a full 90 minutes and to not give up easy goals. … Overall, it’s definitely an improvement upon last year’s skill set,” the coach said.

In NEAC play, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents 29-16, including five wins by shutout.

“Our defense has been huge. We’ve been fortunate enough to hold most of our opponents to two to three goals. … There are just small things on defense that have really been causing us issues. … Overall, the defense has been pretty strong all year and that’s really helped us keep the games close,” Matlack said.

“Anyone can beat anyone on a given day. I think that the top four teams (third-seed Penn State Harrisburg, second-seed Keuka College, top-seeded Penn State Berks and Penn College) are very talented right now, but it’s anybody’s game because (sixth-seeded) Lancaster Bible has played really well this year and Poly always puts up a fight. … It’s anyone’s game at this point,” Matlack said.

Junior Dominique Brown leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and six assists while sophomore Cronan has seven goals and three assists, senior Tiffany Brown has six goals and three assists, and Brooks has six goals and one assist.

Junior Gonzales has been among the conference’s top goalkeepers all season with 96 saves, a .774 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average. Sophomore Marshall has provided strong backup when called upon with one goal allowed, a .833 save percentage, 0.90 goals against average and five saves.

“As long as we have a good effort, we have a good chance just as much as anyone else,” Matlack said. “It’s kind of just playing it game by game and making sure we stay focused on the task at hand.”

Penn College’s other two NEAC losses were to Penn State Harrisburg, 2-1 on Sept. 14, and Penn State Berks, 5-0 on Sept. 25.

In addition to a 5-3 win at Poly on Oct. 12, the Wildcats defeated Lancaster Bible 1-0 at home Oct. 5.

Tuesday’s Penn College-Poly winner will advance to Saturday’s semifinal against Penn State Berks while the Lancaster Bible-Penn State Harrisburg winner will face Keuka College.

The conference championship is set for 1 p.m. Sunday with the winner receiving an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament.

In North Eastern Athletic Conference action this week (records through Sunday): Host SUNY Poly (7-8-1 overall, 6-5 NEAC), 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Last meeting vs. SUNY Poly: Won 5-3 on Oct. 12. (2-4-2 lifetime).

Final regular-season NEAC standings: Penn State Berks 11-0, Keuka College 10-1, Penn State Harrisburg 7-2-1, Penn College 8-3, SUNY Poly 6-5, Lancaster Bible College 5-6, Penn State Abington 4-6, Morrisville State College 4-7, Cazenovia College 3-7-1, Gallaudet University 3-7-1, SUNY Cobleskill 1-7-1, Wells College 0-11.

Men’s/women’s cross-country
The Penn College men, with 120 points, finished fifth in a 10-team field Saturday at SUNY Cobleskill in the NEAC Championships.

Individually for the Wildcats, junior Matt Leiby, of Danville, was 19th in 29:18.6, junior Regan McCoy, of Lock Haven, was 23rd in 29:37.3, sophomore Jonah Isaacson, of Muncy, was 24th in 29:43.3, junior Jake Mashack, of Bloomsburg, was 26th in 29:52.9 and senior Chris Hogan, of Halifax, was 28th in 30:01.8. Also, freshman Dean Fulton, of Palmyra, was 39th and freshman Brandon Bowersox, of Mifflinburg, was 42nd. For his effort, Leiby earned all-NEAC third team honors for the second year in a row. As a freshman, Leiby was a second team honoree.

Cobleskill took top team honors with 49 points and had the top individual in Jared Craw, who covered the 8K course in 26:14.5. Ninety-three individuals competed.

With just four runners competing, the Penn College women didn’t have enough to field a team, but sophomore Katie Plankenhorn, of Montoursville, ended 38th over a 6K course in 30:26.8 while junior Brittany Weiskopff, of Blossburg, was 46th in 31:14.7, junior Nikki Crow, of Elizabethtown, was 47th in 31:18.6 and freshman Cinnamon Digan, of Mifflinburg, 55th in 32:44.9.

SUNY Cobleskill took team honors with 26 points. Penn State Berks’ Michelle Kiss was first among 74 individuals with a time of 24:44.2.

Next up for the Wildcats will be the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships at Bethlehem Nov. 16.

Men’s soccer
Tuesday at Wilkes University, Wilkes scored one goal in each half and, for the fifth time this season, the Wildcats were shut out in a 2-0 loss. Wilkes dominated in shots 29-3 (10-2 on goal) and in corner kicks 11-1.

Hosting Wells College Friday in the start of its regular-season ending weekend, Penn College scored a 2-1 win. Colton Wartman, of Ellicott City, Maryland, tallied in the ninth minute on an assist from Matt Voland, of Woodstock, Maryland, and, after Wells had tied the match in the 35th minute, Greg Conkle, of Carlisle, scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 77th minute on an assist from Chris McFarland, of Coatesville. The Wildcats led in shots 16-13 (11-8 on goal) while Wells led in corner kicks 8-7. Penn College goalie Josh Stanley, of Warsaw, Virginia, had seven saves.

Winding up its season Saturday at home against Keuka College, Penn College lost, 3-0, to end with a 3-13-3 overall record and 3-5-3 conference mark, failing to reach the playoffs after back-to-back trips to the semifinals. Keuka led in shots 21-7 (11-0 on goal) and in corner kicks 10-6.

Before Saturday’s match, seniors Greg Dorsch of Mt. Airy, Maryland; Jacob LeMay of Snow Hill, Maryland; Chris Peters, of Germansville Township; Matt Yoder, of Nescopeck; and Casey May, of McKean, were honored.

“It’s hard to really figure out what went on this year. Myself and our coaching staff, we’ve just got to go back, look at every game result and see what we need to do to be better. Things just didn’t work out as we anticipated,” coach Tyler Mensch said.

“Games that we lost by one goal, I think five of those games we were winning in the second half and just weren’t able to finish off the win,” continued Mensch, whose teams in five seasons have gone 28-61-6.

Injuries played a part in the frustration as, according to the coach, there was no consistent starting lineup all year long.

“It was one of those years that we hope we don’t have again,” Mensch added, noting, “I think going forward, hopefully this will spark them a little bit to do more in the offseason.

“They didn’t like the feeling (Saturday). There were a lot of upset guys and maybe that’s something we needed as a group to kind of define who we are as Penn College soccer players. Maybe this will help to get us moving forward in a more positive direction.

“We’re so young. We only played one junior all season, so we return basically everybody and hopefully we’ll have a good recruiting class so we can get back to where we were the past two years.”

Statistically speaking: Wartman led the team with five goals, four assists and 14 points while Conkle had four goals, two assists and 10 points and Josiah Potts, of Brooklyn, New York, had three goals, three assists and nine points. Penn College scored 21 goals and allowed 38. It was outshot 209-272. The Wildcats had 88 corner kicks and their opponents had 123.

Final NEAC regular-season standings: Penn State Harrisburg 10-1, SUNY Poly 8-3, Penn State Abington 8-3, Lancaster Bible College 7-2-2, SUNY Cobleskill 7-2-2, Keuka College 6-5, Penn State Berks 4-5-2, Penn College 3-5-3, Morrisville State College 2-7-2, Wells College 2-9, Gallaudet University 2-9, Cazenovia College 1-9-1.

Women’s volleyball
Closing out its season Saturday at home, Penn College lost to Penn State Abington, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-15) in conference action and lost to King’s College, 3-1 (18-25, 25-7, 25-18, 25-9), in nonconference play to finish 1-23 overall and 0-11 in the NEAC. It marked the third time in five seasons the Wildcats had a one-win season and second year in a row that they were winless in the conference.

Penn State Abington led in points 48-29, kills 39-23, aces 6-5, blocks 3-1, assists 38-23 and digs 57-44. Individually for Penn College, Emalie Marnati of Canton had 10 kills, Hannah Burnett, of Middlebury Center, had two kills, Mackenzie Mahler, of Quakertown, had 19 assists while Coryn Oswald ,of Langhorne, had 11 digs and Burnett 10 digs.

King’s College led in points 58-32, kills 40-26, aces 14-5, blocks 4-1, assists 36-24 and digs 73-63. Individually for the Wildcats, Oswald had 10 kills, Marnati two aces, Kylee Butz, of Lawrenceville, 21 assists and Abbi Mingus, of Monroe Township, 14 digs and Oswald 13 digs.

A roster that started at 14 and went to as few as seven at times, due to injuries and other factors, presented a challenge, according to coach Bambi Hawkins, but she believes that the year of growth and experience for her underclassmen will help build for the future.

Looking ahead, Hawkins said, “I’ve been real heavily recruiting some taller girls for more height to put up there at the net to be more effective in the kill category and the block category; so that the girls don’t have to scramble so much on the back row defense.”

Added assistant coach Theresa Stanko, “Consistency and stamina are needed next year. We played four games more times than we did last year. ... Now we need to be able to take a second game, possibly a third for the win.”

Wrapping up their careers were sophomore Peyton Homan, of Spring Mills, and Savanna Slough, of Williamstown.

In 16 seasons, Hawkins’ teams have gone 189-176.

Statistically speaking: Oswald led Penn College with 126 kills, Burnett led with 308 digs and 24 service aces, Mahler led with 361 assists and Marnati led with 24 blocks.

Final NEAC regular-season standings: Morrisville State College 11-0, Penn State Harrisburg 8-3, Penn State Abington 8-3, Gallaudet University 7-3, Lancaster Bible College 7-4, Wells College 7-4, Penn State Berks 7-4, Keuka College 4-7, SUNY Poly 4-7, SUNY Cobleskill 2-9, Cazenovia College 1-10, Penn College 0-11.

Wrestling
Sunday at the Lycoming College Invitational, two Penn College matmen went 3-0, four went 2-1 and one other, 174-pounder Dan Bergeron of Jackson, New Jersey, went 1-1 and finished second.

Going 3-0 for the Wildcats were Ryan Bauer of Denton, Maryland, at 133 and Lukas O’Connor, of Wyalusing at 141.

Winning two of their three bouts for Penn College were Trevor Crowley, of Hollywood, New Jersey, at 157; David Galasso, of East Smithfield, at 184; Dylan Gettys, of Etters, at 165; and Jarod Mooney, of Palmerton, at 197.

Going 1-2 for the Wildcats were Ryan Stilgenbauer, of Bath, at 125; Jesse Walker, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, at 149; Gus La Torre, of Camp Hill, at 149; and Erik Schreck, of Northampton at 157. And going 0-3 were Jason Penton, of Littlestown, Maryland, at 165, and Brendan McGinley, of Glenmoore, at 285.

Penn College results:
Freshman/Sophomore 125
Ryan Stilgenbauer’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Axel Giron (York (PA) won by major decision over Ryan Stilgenbauer (Penn College) (Maj 11-2)
Round 2 - Michael Savello (Oneonta State) won by major decision over Ryan Stilgenbauer (Penn College) (Maj 10-1)
Round 3 - Ryan Stilgenbauer (Penn College) won by fall over Kevin Flores (Oneonta State) (Fall 5:23)
Freshman/Sophomore 133
Ryan Bauer’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
Round 1 - Ryan Bauer (Penn College) won by major decision over Greg Brach (Oneonta State) (Maj 19-5)
Round 2 - Ryan Bauer (Penn College) won by major decision over Louis LaRocca (Alvernia University) (Maj 11-1)
Round 3 - Ryan Bauer (Penn College) won by fall over Anthony Romasco (Washington & Jefferson) (Fall 0:38)
Freshman/Sophomore 141
Lukas O’Connor’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
Round 1 - Lukas O’Connor (Penn College) won by fall over Patrick Tocci (Alvernia University) (Fall 2:27)
Round 2 - Lukas O’Connor (Penn College) won by major decision over Daniel Choi (Washington & Jefferson) (Maj 12-4)
Round 3 - Lukas O’Connor (Penn College) won by major decision over Adam Leib (York (PA) (Maj 13-4)
Freshman/Sophomore 149
Jesse Walker’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
Round 1 - Jesse Walker (Penn College) won by major decision over JohnCarl Petretti (Oneonta State) (Maj 19-8)
Round 2 - Eric Schreck (York (PA) won by major decision over Jesse Walker (Penn College) (Maj 14-3)
Round 3 - Logan Marko (Washington & Jefferson) won by medical forfeit over Jesse Walker (Penn College) (MFF)
Freshman/Sophomore 149
Gus La Torre’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Dustin Childs (Delaware Valley) won by tech fall over Gus La Torre (Penn College) (TF 19-0)
Round 2 - Gus La Torre (Penn College) won by fall over Vincent Catania (Washington & Jefferson) (Fall 5:22)
Round 3 - Timothy Sparks (York (PA) won by fall over Gus La Torre (Penn College) (Fall 1:44)
Freshman/Sophomore 157
Erik Schreck’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Erik Schreck (Penn College) won by fall over Justin Whitacre (Delaware Valley) (Fall 2:41)
Round 2 - Nicholas Secor (York (PA) won by decision over Erik Schreck (Penn College) (Dec 9-8)
Round 3 - Nick Florin (Oneonta State) won by fall over Erik Schreck (Penn College) (Fall 2:18)
Freshman/Sophomore 157
Trevor Crowley’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Trevor Crowley (Penn College) received a bye (Bye)
Round 2 - Trevor Crowley (Penn College) won by decision over Preston Rogers (Lycoming) (Dec 6-1)
Round 3 - Trevor Crowley (Penn College) won by tech fall over Alec Meyers (Delaware Valley) (TF 23-7)
Round 4 - Gavin Hollingsworth (Alvernia University) won by decision over Trevor Crowley (Penn College) (Dec 11-5)
Freshman/Sophomore 165
Jason Penton’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Hunter O’Connor (Lycoming) won by injury default over Jason Penton (Penn College) (Inj. 3:00)
Round 2 - Jason Litvak (York (PA) won by medical forfeit over Jason Penton (Penn College) (MFF)
Round 3 - Jason Penton (Penn College) received a bye (Bye)
Round 4 - Jake Hipps (York (PA) won by medical forfeit over Jason Penton (Penn College) (MFF)
Freshman/Sophomore 184
David Galasso’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - David Galasso (Penn College) won by fall over Peter Kenny (Lycoming) (Fall 2:09)
Round 2 - David Galasso (Penn College) received a bye () (Bye)
Round 3 - William Myers (York (PA) won by decision over David Galasso (Penn College) (Dec 8-6)
Round 4 - David Galasso (Penn College) won by decision over Gable Crebs (Lycoming) (Dec 12-10)
Freshman/Sophomore 285
Brendan McGinley’s place is unknown and has scored 0.0 team points.
Round 1 - Palmer Rodenhaber (Alvernia University) won by fall over Brendan McGinley (Penn College) (Fall 3:38)
Round 2 - Frank Veloce (Lycoming) won by fall over Brendan McGinley (Penn College) (Fall 2:02)
Round 3 - Jacob Walker (Washington & Jefferson) won by fall over Brendan McGinley (Penn College) (Fall 3:44)
Junior/Senior 165
Dylan Gettys’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Jared Walker (Washington & Jefferson) won by major decision over Dylan Gettys (Penn College) (Maj 11-2)
Round 2 - Dylan Gettys (Penn College) won by decision over Tanner Vogel (Alvernia University) (Dec 9-5)
Round 3 - Dylan Gettys (Penn College) won by decision over Jesse Rocco (York (PA) (Dec 8-4)
Junior/Senior 174
Daniel Bergeron’s place is second and has scored 7.0 team points.
Round 1 - Daniel Bergeron (Penn College) received a bye (Bye)
Round 2 - Daniel Bergeron (Penn College) won by tech fall over Chris Coyle (Oneonta State) (TF 15-0)
Round 3 - Hadyn Swartwood (Lycoming) won by major decision over Daniel Bergeron (Penn College) (Maj 11-3)
Junior/Senior 197
Jared Mooney’s place is sixth and has scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Jared Mooney (Penn College) won by injury default over Michael Reinhart (York (PA) (Inj. 1:32)
Round 2 - Ali Capobianco (Alvernia University) won in sudden victory - 1 over Jared Mooney (Penn College) (SV-1 15-13)
Round 3 - Jared Mooney (Penn College) won by fall over Matthew Burge (Oneonta State) (Fall 4:05)

SCHEDULE/RECORDS/RESULTS
Men’s soccer
Final overall: 3-13-3
Final NEAC: 3-5-3
Tuesday, Oct. 29 – at Wilkes University, L, 2-0
Friday, Nov. 1 – host Wells College (NEAC), W, 2-1
Saturday, Nov. 2 – host Keuka College (NEAC), L, 3-0

Women’s soccer
Overall: 9-8-1
NEAC: 8-3
Friday, Nov. 1 – host Wells College (NEAC), W, 4-0
Saturday, Nov. 2 – host Keuka College (NEAC), L, 4-1
Tuesday, Nov. 5 – host SUNY Poly (NEAC playoff), 6 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 9-10 – NEAC playoffs, TBA

Women’s volleyball
Final overall: 1-23
Final NEAC: 0-11
Saturday, Nov. 2 – host Penn State Abington (NEAC), L, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-15); host King’s College, L, 3-1 (18-25, 25-7, 25-18, 25-9)
End of regular season

Men’s cross-country
Saturday, Nov. 2 – NEAC Championships at SUNY Cobleskill, 5th among 10 teams
Saturday, Nov. 16 – NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships at Bethlehem, TBA
End of season

Women’s cross-country
Saturday, Nov. 2 – NEAC Championships at SUNY Cobleskill, no team entered
Saturday, Nov. 16 – NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships at Bethlehem, TBA
End of season

Wrestling
Sunday, Nov. 3 – at Lycoming College Invitational, 7-team field
Saturday, Nov. 9 – Ned McGinley Invitational at King’s College, 10 a.m.

Men’s basketball
Tuesday, Nov. 12 – at Valley Forge University, 6 p.m.
Crosstown Challenge
Saturday, Nov. 16 – host Rosemont College, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 17 – host SUNY Delhi, 1 p.m.

Women’s basketball
Saturday, Nov. 16 – at Alvernia University Tip-Off Tournament vs. Alvernia, 1 p.m. (Adrian College vs. Brooklyn College, 3 p.m.)
Sunday, Nov. 17 – at Alvernia University Tip-Off Tournament, noon consolation or 2 p.m. championship

For more about NEAC, visit the conference website.

For more information, visit the Wildcat Athletics website.

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