ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's soccer team is set to host No. 5 seed La Roche in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) semifinals Wednesday afternoon.
The Lions (15-1-3) have won three titles in the past five years. The Redhawks (10-7-2) are looking to avenge their 3-1 loss against Behrend earlier this season.
La Roche and the Lions will kick off at 4:30 p.m. on the Behrend turf to decide which team will advance to the AMCC championship game. The winner of this matchup will play the winner of No. 2 Medaille and No. 3 Penn State Altoona on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
Behrend is looking to recapture the AMCC crown after losing to Mount Aloysius in penalty kicks last year.
Three different Lions scored in the 3-1 victory over the Redhawks on October 22. Tom Spagnolo broke the game open with a goal in the 13th minute. Matt Baleno (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) answered just a minute and a half later to tie the game. At the 21:06 mark, Nick McKee (Bridgeville, PA/South Fayette) scored the game winner with the assist going to Dakota Lange (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area). Sean Gallagher (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) delivered the dagger in the second half to make the score 3-1.
Anthony Crivelli (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) leads all scorers with 17 points (6 goals, 5 assists). Gallagher is right behind him with five goals and six assists for 16 points. Aaron Harris (Washington, PA/McGuffey) and Lange have each contributed four goals.
The Lions defense is led by seniors Evan Augustine (South Park, PA/South Park) and Ryan Thorsen (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park), junior Josh Kolarac (Imperial, PA/West Allegheny) and freshman Macen DiPaolo (Cranberry Twp, PA/Senaca Valley). The four have helped Behrend post 12 team shutouts during the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Chris Ralph (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) is ranked seventh in the country and first in the AMCC in Goals Against Average (0.49). He also holds the best save percentage in the conference (.833), most wins (13), and least amount of goals given up (8).
