Win and you're in was the message to the Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team prior to Tuesday's game at Gallaudet. Beat the Bison in Washington, D.C. and the Chargers would clinch the fifth and final NEAC playoff spot in their regular season finale.

After 45 minutes of play, it didn't look like the Chargers would be playing anymore NEAC games this season. Gallaudet jumped on the Chargers and led 1-0 at halftime. LBC, however, turned on the offense in the second half and scored three times en route to a 3-1 victory and the final NEAC playoff spot.

Sean Westerlund scored twice, while senior Taylor Dooley scored once in the final 20 minutes to lead LBC to a come back victory over the Bison. LBC finishes the regular season with a 7-9-2 record overall and a 5-3-2 NEAC record.

Gallaudet's JP Kanashiro opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game, converting a penalty kick after LBC committed a foul in the box. In addition to being down a goal at the half, the Chargers also discussed how badly they were being outplayed.

"We started out very slow," LBC Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "We were losing 50-50 balls and they were outworking us."

From the get-go in the second half however, LBC began to turn the tide that resulted in Westerlund's goal at the 70:08 mark. After Kanashiro received a yellow card, Richard Westerlund took a free kick from 35 yards out that was headed in by brother Sean for LBC's first goal.

"Sean's goal was very nice and was very big," Ardt said. "We had gotten our heads right and had started to take over the game and this goal was huge for us."

Less than three minutes later, Dooley put the Chargers ahead for good after gathering a ball in the box and hammering it home. Sean Westerlund added an insurance goal with 3:10 to go after he put the ball into a wide open net after the Bison's goalkeeper failed to clear the ball.

"Gallaudet has some very good players, but we were able to read their game plan in the second half and played a much better half," Ardt said. "It's good to get a win in our final regular season game, especially one that gets us into the playoffs."

The best part of the game for many of the players and Ardt included came after the game when LBC senior Lawrence Lartey said the post-game prayer - in sign language. Lartey took the time to learn some sign language recently and was able to say a prayer after the game. Gallaudet's players went crazy according to Ardt and cheered after Lartey was finished.

LBC returns to action on Thursday for the NCCAA East Region Semi-Finals. They will face Baptist Bible at 3:00 p.m. in Clarks Summit, Pa. The Defenders defeated the Chargers, 2-1 in late September.