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BROOKVILLE, N.Y.- On the heels of its first ever NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championship the West Chester Golden Rams men's soccer team (14-2-5) turns its attention to its next opponent in East Region Champion Adelphi (17-3-2) with a trip to the Final Four in Pittsburgh, Pa. on the line. This all-important game is scheduled to kick off on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Pioneer Soccer Park on the campus of LIU-Post.
West Chester enters this matchup flying high coming off a 1-0 upset victory over No. 1 seed and Defending National Champion University of Charleston (Wv.).
Stephen Thompson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) continued his red-hot NCAA Tournament scoring the lone goal of the contest in the 13
th minute to give West Chester the early lead. Stellar defense was the story for the rest of the game as the West Chester backline was hard to beat and goalkeeper
Will Marshall (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) made three huge saves to keep the game scoreless. Charleston ended the contest with a 10-3 advantage in shots and a 3-1 advantage in shots on goal but West Chester only needed one shot to earn the victory. Marshall also picked up his 13
th victory of the season in this contest, which moves him into a tie with
Matt Palmer and Andrew Shafer for the single-season wins lead.
Adelphi enters play coming off a big win of its own as the Panthers downed the Pioneers of LIU-Post by a final score of 2-0 to win the East Region Championship, thus, setting up Saturday afternoons elite eight matchup between Adelphi and West Chester. Â Patrick Guier did not waste any time in putting the Panthers out in front scoring the first goal of the just 1:21 into the contest to give Adelphi the early lead. In the second half, Adelphi added an insurance goal as James Thristino took an assist from Taylor Kacyzinski to give the guests a commanding 2-0 lead with just under forty minutes to play in the contest. Adelphi ended the game with a 9-5 advantage in shots and a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal along with a 4-2 edge in corner kicks. Matt Apicella played well between the pipes for the Panthers making four big saves to keep LIU-Post off the scoreboard.
Appicella has had a strong season between the pipes for Adelphi playing to a record of 17-3-2 on the year with a 1.11 goals against average with 11 shutouts on the season including his shutout over LIU-Post on Thursday afternoon. Offense has not been an issue for Adelphi this season as the Panthers are led by the duo of Thristino and Paolo Marciano who have 37 (12 G, 13 A) and 30 (12 G, 6 A), respectively. Kacyzinksi has also been a threat this season as he has eight goals and seven assists of his own for 23 points on the year. Guier is fourth on the team with 16 points thanks to six goals and four assists on the season.
As a team Adelphi has allowed opponents an average of 1.11 goals per game 13.3 shots per game while the Panthers have averaged 2.23 goals per game and 14.6 shots per game as well.
With a West Chester win the Golden Rams will get to enjoy Thanksgiving before heading to Pittsburgh for the Final Four on November 29
th with the Championship game on December 1
st.
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