One rival down, one to go.

The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team defeated Baptist Bible, 2-0 in the NCCAA East Region Semi-Finals on Thursday to reach their fifth consecutive East Region Final and once again, the Chargers will battle Philadelphia Biblical for the title.

LBC senior Lawrence Lartey opened the scoring 16:31 into the game off a feed from Sean Westerlund. Westerlund held the ball down near the goal line and crossed the ball to Lartey who buried his shot into the lower right-hand corner.

"Lawrence played one of his best games of the season," Chargers' Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "He played great defensively in the midfield and provided that first goal which was a major spark."

Risser's goal 16 minutes later gave the Chargers added insurance as he converted on yet another header. Cory Greiser took a pass and headed it into the box and Risser was able to get up above everyone else and head in his second goal of the season.

"We had high energy from the beginning of the game," Ardt said. "We started out very strong and Risser's goal gave us that added cushion."

LBC held the lead through halftime as the expected Defenders' charge came in the final 20 minutes of the game.

"Baptist played much better in the second half, but those last 20 minutes we were able to sit back and play a more defensive game because of the two-goal lead," Ardt said. "Bergey played very solid in goal and we had great play all over the field."

The Defenders outshot the Chargers 18-11 and held a 6-1 edge in corner kicks, but could not score on LBC. The win avenges a bitter loss to the Defenders just a month ago in Clarks Summit.

LBC (8-9-2) will once again be on the road, as the Crimson Eagles are the top seed in the East Region. Ardt said the guys don't care where they play, they just want a shot to win the title.

"PBU is going to be a great atmosphere to play the region championship," Ardt said. "The guys have worked hard this season and they deserve a shot at the title."

LBC is 1-3 against PBU in the past four region title games, with their lone win coming in 2009 in Langhorne. The Crimson Eagles won last year's battle on penalty kicks, 5-4.

Saturday's game is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.

Notes:
-Thursday's game was played at the University of Scranton because of poor field conditions at BBC.

-Lartey scored LBC's lone goal in their 2009 East Region title game victory at PBU.

-PBU advanced to Saturday's championship game by defeating #4 seed Valley Forge Christian, 5-2.