The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team stormed out of the gate in Tuesday's North Eastern Athletic Conference Quarterfinal against Penn St. Berks and never looked back, defeating the Nittany Lions, 4-1 thanks to four first-half goals, including two by senior Edward Bills. The Chargers are now 10-9-2 this season and will advance to the NEAC Semifinals for the fourth time in program history, where they will meet SUNY Poly on Saturday in Abington, Pa. at 2 p.m.
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible wasted no time getting on the scoreboard on Tuesday, as Caleb Nelson scored at 5:28 off a pretty pass from freshman Rama Mugisha. Mugisha's through ball gave Nelson a breakaway and he finished the play for his team-leading 10th goal of the season. Just 1:09 later, sophomore Dan Bewersdorff pounced on a rebound off a shot from sophomore Joel Hughes, and headed the ball into the back of the net to double Lancaster Bible's lead.
Penn St. Berks cut its deficit to one at 14:08 when Jakob Fischer put home a rebound from a ball that went off the crossbar, for his first goal of the season. Unfazed, Lancaster Bible restored its two-goal lead just 2:30 later when Bills took a cross from Nelson and put the ball inside the left post.
Lancaster Bible maintained its two-goal lead the rest of the half and put an exclamation point on the first half, as Bills took a pass from Hughes and chipped the ball up and over the goalkeeper with 1:45 remaining to give the Chargers a 4-1 advantage.
The Chargers continued to push forward in the second half, and though Penn St. Berks had a few chances as well, Lancaster Bible was up for every task and maintained its three-goal lead throughout the second half.
By the Numbers: Each team had 14 shots, while Lancaster Bible held a 10-8 edge in shots on goal...Lancaster Bible held a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks...Hughes finished with two assists, while Nelson had a goal and an assist...Senior Thiago Naque made seven saves for the Chargers.
The Coach Says: "We started really strong, on the front foot and very attack-minded," Lancaster Bible Head Coach
Tom Ardt said. "We were rewarded for that when Caleb finished a breakaway after a great pass from Rama. Dan did well to make it 2-0 when he cleaned up a rebound in the box. Although they got one back, Eddie led us and scored the next two goals to give us a 4-1 lead heading into halftime."
On the Team's Overall Play: "I'm very happy with how we defended in the midle and back third for the second half," Ardt said. "We limited a good attacking team and were thinking a step ahead defensively to hold off the numbers that Berks had going forward. Overall we are thankful for this result and glad to get back to the conference semifinals, which we will begin preparing for on Wednesday."
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 10-10-2 all-time against Penn St. Berks...The Chargers and Nittany Lions played to a 4-4 tie in Lancaster during the regular season...Bills and Nelson each have 24 points this season...Lancaster Bible is now 5-5-1 on the road this season...The Chargers are now 3-1 all-time in the NEAC Quarterfinal round in program history...Bills is alone in 13th place on the all-time goals list in program history with 28...His 19 career assists are also 11th-most all-time...Bills' 75 points are the 13th-most in program history.
Up Next: Lancaster Bible well face SUNY Poly on Saturday in the NEAC Semifinals at 2 p.m...The game will be played at 2 p.m. or 30 minutes following the first semifinal.
