The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team saw its chance at a North Eastern Athletic Conference Championship come to an anguishing end on Saturday afternoon at top-seeded Penn St. Harrisburg, as the Nittany Lions and Chargers played to a 110-minute double overtime tie, before Penn St. Harrisburg won, 4-3 in penalty kicks.
 
The game is officially a tie, thus Lancaster Bible is now 14-4-3 overall, while the Nittany Lions move onto the NEAC Final with a record of 14-5-1 overall. The Chargers will now set their sights on the NCCAA Midwest Regional Tournament, while the Nittany Lions will face Keuka in Sunday's NEAC Final.
 
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible had four of the game's first five shots on Saturday, but two of the four went wide, while the other two were saved by Nittany Lion goalkeeper Nicholas Guglielmett. Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Jake Deterline made an early save as well, and then helped the Chargers withstand an offensive run by the Nittany Lions midway through the first half.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg's best chance of the first half came at 31:42, as the team was awarded a penalty kick. Joey Aman's shot hit the crossbar, and the game remained scoreless into halftime.
 
The Chargers had the first shot of the second half, but Dan Bewersdorff's chance was saved by Guglielmett once again. Lancaster Bible earned a penalty kick of its own at 47:31, but Joel Hughes' shot missed, and the game stayed knotted at 0-0.
 
Each team's offense had plenty of offensive chances in the second half, but neither team could find the back of the net, and the first NEAC Semifinal of the day headed to overtime.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg had the better of the chances, and only two shots, of the first 10-minute overtime, but nothing was settled, and the teams went to a second overtime. After a slow start, Penn St. Harrisburg finally got a chance at the 106:53 mark, but Toma Nichik's header hit the crossbar, and three minutes later, the game went to a penalty kick shootout.
 
Both Bewersdorff and Chad Tolson missed their penalty kick tries to open the chances for the Chargers, but the Nittany Lions went just 1-of-2 on their first two chances, and led, 1-0 after two rounds. Hughes regrouped from his earlier miss, and converted his chance in round three, but Luke Myers scored as well for a 2-1 home team lead after three rounds. Freshman Clark Shreiner scored in round four for Lancaster Bible, but Darion Ferreira scored as well for the Nittany Lions. Senior Caleb Nelson scored for the Chargers to keep their hopes alive in round five, but Jacob Krantweiss netted the shootout winner on the next shot to send the Nittany Lions to the NEAC Final.
 
Statistically Speaking: Penn St. Harrisburg led in shots, 15-11, but the Chargers held a 7-4 edge in shots on goal…Lancaster Bible was outshot, 3-0 in the overtime periods…Penn St. Harrisburg held a slim 6-5 edge in corner kick tries…Deterline made four saves for the Chargers, while Guglielmett made seven saves for the Nittany Lions…Kedric Yoder had a team-high three shots for the Chargers.
 
The Coach Says: "I'm extremely proud of the effort we put forward today," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "Unfortunately we couldn't finish it in penalties, but the boys played a strong game together. It's time to look at NCCAA Regionals, and continue our improvement. I'm thankful to coach this group."
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 15-14-2 all-time against Penn St. Harrisburg…The Chargers are 2-4 all-time in the NEAC Semifinal Round…Lancaster Bible has not defeated Penn St. Harrisburg since Oct. 1, 2009…The Chargers also went to overtime in the 2014 NEAC Semifinals, and defeated Keuka, 1-0 on a penalty kick goal by Josiah Groff at 93:21…Keuka defeated Penn St. Abington, 4-3 in the other NEAC Semifinal.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will await its NCCAA Midwest Region Playoff opponent…Lancaster Bible, Roberts Wesleyan (NCAA Div. II), and Grace College (NAIA) are the other Midwest Region teams eligible to compete this season.