he fate of the men’s soccer season flashed before its eyes when it came down to a shootout between Arcadia University and Cabrini College in the semi-finals game of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Cabrini’s season and chance for the PAC championship ended abruptly when the team missed two of its five penalty shots.
To make it to this spot in the semi-finals, Cabrini beat Gwynedd-Mercy College in the previous game. Chris Roach, assisted by T.J. Dougherty, scored the first goal. The second goal came from Sean Dugan, assisted by Anthony Pepe, to win the game in overtime, 2-1.
Sophomore goalie, Brad Rink, said, “It was a big win for the team and it got us ready for the playoffs. It’s always good to head into the playoffs with a win.”
In order to play in the semi-finals, Cabrini had to win the remainder of its PAC Tournament games because they lost to Arcadia, Eastern University, and College Misericordia in the regular season. If they wanted at least the fourth seed, they had to beat Gwynedd-Mercy. They accomplished this and took on first-seeded Arcadia University.
In the first half, Dugan scored, with an assist by Dougherty. “[Arcadia] came out strong in the second half to tie 1-1,” sophomore forward, Dougherty, said. The remainder of the second half amounted in no goals for either team. After holding off Arcadia for two 10-minute overtimes, the game went to penalty kicks. Missing two of its five, Cabrini lost the game to Arcadia. “We almost won,” Dougherty said.
“We played our best game of the year,” Rink said. “We had lost to them 4-1 during the season so to take them into a shootout shows how hard we played.”
“It was a highly emotional game because of the seniors,” Rink said. “We’re losing eight, so everyone will have to step up next year.”
The Cavs would have gone to take on Misericordia after its win over Eastern, also in penalty kicks. However, it is Arcadia to play Misericordia for the PAC Tournament championship.
