The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team earned a key North Eastern Athletic Conference victory on Saturday at Donald H. Funk Field, as the Chargers took down SUNY Poly, 3-1. The victory improves the Chargers to 6-6-1 overall and 5-2 in NEAC play, while the Wildcats fell to 4-6-3 overall and 3-4 in conference action.
 
Game Recap: Lancaster Bible got on the board quickly on Saturday, as junior Estiven Saldarriaga raced past everyone in the ninth minute, and snuck a shot past Wildcats' goalkeeper Nathan Laughlin who was charging out.
 
Saldarriaga's goal may have awoken SUNY Poly a bit, as the Wildcats began to control more of the play, however, many of their chances were either shot wide of the net or saved by Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Jake Deterline. The Chargers appeared to be entering halftime with the 1-0 lead, but late in the opening half, Kedric Yoder looked to cross the ball into the box, but it went towards the goal and banked off of the crossbar and right into the side of the net to double the Chargers' lead with 1:52 to play.
 
SUNY Poly pressed to get back into the game early in the second half, but again, many of their chances were either blocked, saved or went wide. Yoder effectively put the game away at 67:39, as he took a beautiful feed from Dan Bwersdorff and scored into the lower right-hand side of the goal for his second goal of the game.
 
The Wildcats' Benjamin Alonge converted a penalty kick with 1:26 to play to produce the final score, but the Chargers ran out the clock and secured the win.
 
By the Numbers: SUNY Poly outshot the Chargers, 19-10, but each team recorded five shots on goal…The Wildcats led in corner kicks, 8-2, while Deterline made four saves for the Chargers…Yoder has three goals this season, while Saldarriaga picked up a goal and an assist…Jared Jordan recorded an assist on Saldarriaga's goal that opened the scoring.
 
The Coach Says: "I am proud of our strong start today, and the way we improved some areas that we struggled with earlier in the week," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "This was a big result for us in conference play, and we look forward to a tough match on Tuesday with Penn College."
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 4-5-1 all-time against SUNY Poly…Lancaster Bible is outscoring its opponents, 21-15 this season…Saturday's win evens Lancaster Bible's home record at 3-3 this season…Lancaster Bible had 10 shots on Saturday, and the Chargers are now 6-1-1 overall when they record 10 or more shots in a game this season.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Penn College on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Donald H. Funk Field.