ERIE, PA – Penn State Behrend men’s soccer team was bounced out of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament by Bethany in a muddy Wednesday afternoon game. The men were outscored 4-3.
The Bison (11-10-1) jumped on the Lions (14-3-2) early in the matchup. Nine minutes from the opening kickoff James Arkangelo tallied to put Bethany up 1-0. Arkangelo would also post two assist on the day. Two minutes later, Brian Bodnar connected with Jake Gamble who scored his 17th goal of the season to knot the score. The Bison netted one more goal before the half, Balde Lamine beat goalie Chris Bolea with a header at the 18:50 mark.
In the second half was full of excitement as both sides scored a pair of goals. Tomas Gonzalez started a play which Alex Stubbs ended that put Bethany up 3-1. At the 64:15 mark the men would retaliate with a hard Gamble shot that was blocked and then rebounded by Jerry Tortella. The score at 3-2 and with little time left the Lions brought in an extra forward. Stubbs took advantage of the short Behrend backfield and tallied to give the Bison a 4-2 advantage.
Aaron Meehl finally found the net after connecting with the post on two separate occasions but his goal with 1:39 left in regulation was not enough to extend the Behrend season and the men failed defend their ECAC title.
With Tortella’s goal in the 64th minute of play he became Behrend’s all-time leading scorer with a career 33 goals. The program’s record books will also usher in another player as Jake Gamble tied the single-season goals record with 17.