Monday, November 4, 2002

MORAVIAN MEN’S SOCCER SQUAD HEADED TO COMMONWEALTH PLAYOFFS FOR THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College men’s soccer team will make its third consecutive Commonwealth Conference Playoff appearance as the fourth-seeded Greyhounds travel to top-seeded Elizabethtown College for a semifinal match on Wednesday, November 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday’s other semifinal contest has third-seeded Lebanon Valley College traveling to second-seed and defending Commonwealth Conference Champion Messiah College.

Moravian has posted a 10-7-2 overall record this season under fourth-year head coach Eric Lambinus. The Greyhounds have won four consecutive matches and earned their playoff berth with a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime victory at Widener University last Saturday.

On the field, the Greyhounds are being led in scoring by sophomore midfielder Daniel Samuelsson (Lebanon, NJ/North Hunterdon HS), who has seven goals and four assists for 18 points. Samuelsson has three game-winning goals this season including the overtime winner at Widener.

Sophomore midfielder Jim Feimster (Stroudsburg, PA/Pocono Mountain HS) has scored five goals and four assists for 14 points while junior midfielder Tim Shannon (Leesport, PA/Schuylkill Valley HS) has tallied five goals and three assists for 13 points. Feimster has three game-winning tallies this fall while Shannon has one.

Sophomore forward Ryan Fick (Hamburg, PA/Fleetwood HS) has found the back of the net four times and added four assists for 12 points while sophomore midfielder Nick Tarquinio (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant Boro HS) has contributed two goals and four assists for eight points. Junior forward Anthony Merz (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan HS) and junior midfielder Mike Grillo (Dennington, NJ/The Pennington School) both have five points this season with Merz scoring two goals and an assist and Grillo adding a goal and three assists.

Junior defender Matt Sprague (Souderton, PA/Souderton HS) and sophomore midfielder Jonathan Thomas (Port Carbon, PA/Nativity BVM HS) have both tallied a goal and two assists this fall while junior defender Ken Macaulay (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge HS), senior forward Wilson Gonzalez (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) and freshman midfielder Casey Hoffman (Kempton, PA/Northwestern Lehigh HS) all have scored one goal. Freshman midfielder Javier Maldonaldo (New Providence, NJ/New Providence HS) has added one assist.

Other Greyhounds contributing on the field are senior defender Brian Mack (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS), sophomore defender Ryan Wilkins (Hatboro, PA/Hatboro-Horsham HS) and freshman defender George Gray (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen HS).

Moravian has used a trio of goalies this season with senior Ryan Sculley (Bethlehem, PA/Northampton HS) seeing 1,084 minutes of playing time. Sculley has made 66 saves and posted a 1.24 goals-against average with one shutout and a 6-4 record. He has combined with junior keeper Vinny Nasuta (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional HS) on another shutout. Nasuta has a 2.09 goals-against average and 43 saves in 645 minutes. He has added two solo shutouts and a 3-3-2 record. Freshman keeper Ryan Walker (Metuchen, NJ/Metuchen HS) has played 45 minutes with six saves and one goal allowed.

Elizabethtown enters the contest with an overall record of 14-2-3 and the Blue Jays earned the top seed with a 1-0 victory over Messiah in the regular season finale last Saturday. Elizabethtown won the regular season meeting with Moravian, 2-0, back on October 22nd on its home field.

Freshman Andrew Kummerer leads the Blue Jays in scoring this season with 17 points on six goals and a team high five assists. Kummerer had the winning goal against Messiah. Junior Steve Custer had tallied a team leading seven goals and he has two assists for 16 points while junior Charlie Haines had added 15 points on six goals and three assists. Elizabethtown has three players with nine points as sophomore Chase Franklin and sophomore Chris Boushell each have four goals and an assist while junior Brian Albrecht has three goals and three assists. Elizabethtown has had 17 players find the back of the net at least once this season and a total of 25 Blue Jays have at least one point.

Junior goalie Michael Ciattei and sophomore keeper Edwin Tichenor have been Elizabethtown’s final line of defense all season. Ciattei has a 0.47 goals-against average with 53 saves, five shutouts and a 10-1-3 record in 1,157 minutes while Tichenor has posted a 1.03 goals-against average, 31 saves, two shutouts and a 4-1 mark in 613 minutes.