Release courtesy of Eugenio Mercurio
GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – Penn State Abington will be the host site of the 2012 NEAC Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament after the Nittany Lions won the regular season championship with a 9-1 conference record and 27 overall points.
The tournament will be held on Saturday, Nov. 3 and Sunday, Nov. 4.
Two other teams have clinched a playoff berth as well, with the Morrisville State College Mustangs securing the second seed with an 8-1-1 NEAC record and 25 points, while the Cazenovia College Wildcats grabbed the third seed with a 7-1-2 NEAC record and 23 points.
Three teams will now contest for the final two playoff spots, as the Penn State Harrisburg Nittany Lions and the two-time defending champion SUNY Institute of Technology Wildcats are both tied in the conference standings at 5-3-1 and 16 points, while the Keuka College Storm are just below them at 5-4 in the NEAC with 15 points, with each having one conference game remaining. Harrisburg (9-7-1 overall) will take on Penn State Berks (3-13-1, 0-8-1 NEAC, 1 point) Saturday at 2 p.m. and would clinch a playoff spot with a victory. SUNYIT (8-7-1 overall) and Keuka (7-7 overall) will square off against one another on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a potential must-win game for both teams, although a multitude of scenarios can occur before the final playoff seeding is determined.
Once all of the five playoff spots are secured, the fourth seed will host the fifth seed for a first-round, play-in game on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. The winner will then move on to the semifinals to face top seed Penn State Abington (11-3 overall) on Saturday, Nov. 3. Morrisville State (13-4-1 overall) and Cazenovia (8-6-2 overall) will square off in Saturday’s other semifinal contest in Abington, Pa. Game times for those contests have yet to be determined.
The winners from the two semifinal round contests will advance to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m., with the winner being crowned the 2012 NEAC champion and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII Tournament.