The Lancaster Bible men's soccer team will look to put last Sunday's loss in the North Eastern Athletic Conference final in the rearview mirror on Saturday as the Chargers host Houghton at 11 a.m. on Charger Field. This will be Lancaster Bible's first season appearing in the NCCAA Division I East Region Playoffs as both the men's and women's soccer teams made the jump from Division II prior to the season. 

Houghton, like Lancaster Bible, has been a part of the NCCAA for many years, but only recently became active postseason opportunities again as the Highlanders began declaring themselves active for postseason events during the 2012-13 season. In the early years of the NCCAA, the Houghton men's soccer team was the cream of the crop as they won NCCAA national championships in 1979, 1980 and 1986. Houghton was the East Region representative in last season's NCCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, but failed to get out of pool play. Also like Lancaster Bible, Houghton is a member of NCAA Division III as they compete in the Empire 8 against schools such as Nazareth College, Stevens Institute of Technology and Ithaca College. 

This season, the Highlanders finished the regular season with a record of 8-8-2 overall and 2-3-2 in Empire 8 play. Houghton was actually better on the road this season as they finished 4-2-1 away from Burke Field, while they were only 3-4-1 at home. Houghton scored just 26 goals this season with eight of them coming in the Highlanders' final two games. Though Houghton doesn't score much, they don't allow their opponents to score much either as they allowed just 19 goals. The Highlanders posted seven shutouts this season and allowed just one goal in their final four regular season games as they went 3-0-1. 

Jared Toth leads Houghton with six goals and 13 points this season, while Landon Sheaffer had four goals and three assists for 11 points. Houghton has had 11 different goal scorers this season and it's a very disciplined team as they have earned just nine yellow cards this season.

Prior to losing to Morrisville State in the NEAC Final, Lancaster Bible was enjoying one of its longest streaks of good play in several seasons as the Chargers had lost just once in their previous nine games. Like Houghton, the Chargers have actually been better away from Charger Field this season and although they are 5-3 on their field this season, they did win four of their last five games at home during the regular season.

Lancaster Bible is much different than Houghton when it comes to scoring and allowing goals however as the Chargers have scored 48 goals this season from 16 different goal scorers and allowed 28 goals. Though they were just 5-3 at home, the Chargers scored three or more goals in six of their eight home games this season. Houghton meanwhile posted three of the seven shutouts on the road. Freshman Ivan Correa leads the Chargers with 11 goals and 24 points, while junior Josiah Groff is second on the team with seven goals and 21 points. 

No doubt it will be a contrast of styles on Saturday at Charger Field with the winner headed to the NCCAA East Region Final next Saturday, November 22, where they will take on top-seeded Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester, N.Y. The winner of that game will represent the East Region at the NCCAA Division I National Championships which will be held December 1-6 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Saturday's game can be seen via live video here: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lbc/
In-game updates will also be posted to the Lancaster Bible Athletics Twitter feed: @LBCathletics