Gophers, Blue Jays Battle to Scoreless Stalemate, Etown Advances on PKs

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - Second-seeded Elizabethtown College bested No. 3 seed Goucher College 3-1 in a penalty kick shootout in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference Men's Soccer Championship after the two teams played to a 0-0 2OT draw at Herr Field Wednesday night.  While the game is officially a tie, the Blue Jays advance to Saturday's Landmark final where they will host fourth-seeded Scranton.

• Goucher (9-4-5) had the early run of play, taking the game's first four shots.
• Elizabethtown (8-5-5) took its first shot in the 26th minute.
• Goucher keeper Ale Sternini (Rome, Italy/Williston Northampton) made his first save with 18 minutes left in the half.
• Sternini made another save on a bid by Hayden Oldham with six minutes left in the half.

• Sternini punched a Blue Jay bid over the crossbar nine minutes into the half.
• Another save by Sternini came on a deep drive with 30 minutes left in regulation.
• Three minutes later Adrian Mubiru (Riverdale Park, Md. / International HS at Langley Park) sent a chip shot wide that got past Blue Jay keeper Kelvin Del Cid.
• Sternini's third save of the half came with 17 minutes left.
• Jeremiah Odubade (London, England/Fairmont Heights) had a shot wide just over a minute later.
• Xavier Dever (Hollywood, Md./Leonardtown) had a shot that went left with seven minutes to go.

• Isaiah Perry (West Hartford, Conn./Hall) sent a low shot in four minutes into the first overtime that was saved by Del Cid.
• Sternini made a save on an Oldham shot two minutes into the first extra frame.
• Odubade had the lone shot of the second extra session with just over three minutes left that went wide.
• Etown went first in the penalty kick shootout and Sternini stopped Mehluko Letsoalo's attempt.
• Ali Kazim Nakhid (Beirut, Lebanon/UMBC) buried his PK to put Goucher up 1-0.
• Etown tied it in the second round as it was successful and Del Cid stopped the Gopher attempt.
• The Blue Jays converted their next two attempts and Del Cid came up with two saves as the hosts prevailed in four rounds.

• Sternini made six saves en route to his fifth shutout of the season, while Del Cid made one save.
• Etown held an 11-10 shot advantage, but took 11 corner kicks to the Gophers' three.
• Jonathan Alvarado (Hyattsville, Md./International HS at Langley Park) led Goucher with three shots.
• Goucher was making its first Landmark championship appearance since 2014 and its second all-time since starting play in the conference as a founding member in 2007.

• Goucher will now await word of a potential ECAC Championship bid.  Those selections will be announced on Monday, November 7 after the NCAA field is announced.