Oct. 27, 2007

Box Score

Courtesy: Dan Mouw -

St. David's, Pa. - This afternoon's Pennsylvania Athletic Conference game between the Neumann men's soccer team bound for the playoffs for the first time, and an Eastern squad that is a perennial postseason presence would provide clarity to a muddy playoff picture. Eastern used two second half goals to down the Knights 2-0 and claim the second spot in the PAC playoffs. Eastern will host Cabrini in Thursday's semi-final. The Knights will travel to Alvernia for a Tuesday quarterfinal game.

Heavy rains during the night and earlier in the day did not impact the field conditions on Olson Field, but both teams seemed to be running in mud in a first half played almost exclusively in the midfield. The Knights generated just two shots in the first half forcing Eastern's Noah Bartelt to make one save, while Zach Ratcliff made two of his four saves for the match in the opening half.

The Knight Back line held strong until the 53rd minute when an Eastern throw from the left side deflected into a dangerous area in front. Scott Patrick seized the chance and threw himself at the bouncing ball and nodded the ball home for his third game-winning goal of the year. In the 69th minute, the Eagles picked up an insurance goal off a corner kick. Terry Fry collected a rebound of his original kick and hit a bending ball across the goal that Taylor VanBrackle headed home.

Michael Dorsch played the second half in goal for the Eagles. Neumann was outshot 8-2 in the second half. Neumann will take on Alvernia College Tuesday afternoon at 2:00.