BUFFALO, NY – Eric Vunovic (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) scored on a penalty kick just 5:53 in to the match to lead the Penn State Behrend men's soccer team past Medaille 1-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship game.
Saturday's win marks the sixth conference title overall for the Lions (16-4-1) and coach Dan Perritano. It is their second championship in three years.
The lone goal of the contest came early after Vunovic was fouled in the box. Behrend's leading 2013 point-getter (26) fired in the ensuing penalty kick to give the Lions the 1-nil lead.
It was a lead that would hold up.
Eric Hackworth (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) and Jimmy Belack (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair) helped institute a lockdown defense for Behrend in the shutout. The Lions have allowed just two goals over the course of their six game winning streak.
Goalkeeper Jarrod Wassell (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) was exemplary in recording his seventh shutout of the season. The junior has allowed just two total goals in his last five starts.
Behrend avenged a 1-0 loss to Medaille from October 8th. That defeat was the Lions' only conference setback of the 2013 regular season.
This is the fourth time in school history that both the Penn State Behrend men's and women's soccer programs have won the AMCC Championship in the same season. The Lions last accomplished that feat in 2011.
With the victory, Behrend has earned the AMCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lions will battle an opponent yet to be determined next weekend.