RADNOR, PA – The Cabrini men's soccer team will appear in its sixth consecutive conference championship game on Saturday, after tonight's back and forth 1-0 win over Marymount in the Atlantic East Conference Tournament semifinal round.
The tournament's top seed, the Cavaliers' seventh consecutive win sets up a championship meeting with a familiar foe in number three seed Neumann, who secured their place in Saturday's title tilt with a 2-1 win at No. 2 Immaculata.
The Blue and White scored tonight's lone marker in the 13th minute, as sophomore
Nick LoBiondo collected a loose ball near the midfield line and sprinted past the Saints' defense before slotting a right-footed shot under Marymount goaltender Brian Cruz.
The Cabrini defense then made LoBiondo's ninth goal of the campaign stand, as the home side recorded just two shots and one corner kick in the opening 45 minutes.
Both sides turned up the pressure after the halftime break. While the teams combined for just nine second half shot attempts, the Saints forced the Cavaliers to play on their heels for much of the stanza.
Sophomore
MJ Graham recorded three of his four saves on the night, including several of the diving variety, in the second half to record his second consecutive clean sheet.
Offensively, the Cavaliers forced six second half corner kicks, including three over the final five plus minutes.
LoBiondo accounted for four of the Cavaliers' seven shots on the night, with senior
Nick Booth and juniors
Matt Duddy and
Jake Scully adding one each.
Cruz led the Saints with three saves in the loss, including saving a pair of second half breakaways, while junior Carlos Varona recorded thee of the club's six shots.
Trailing 1-0 at the half, Neumann evened the score just two minutes in the second half before scoring the game-winner in the 80th minute on junior Eddie Proud's second goal of the season.
Proud and Chris Siemien, who recorded the Knights' first goal, combined for eight of Neumann's 18 shots in the win, while goaltender Seth Walker notched six saves to earn the victory.
The Cavaliers topped the Knights 4-1 in their regular season meeting on Oct. 15, with Duddy scoring a pair of goals. Sophomores
Nolan Holloway and
Kevin Davis also marked the scoring column before Neumann's Jake Kuzmick's 87th minute kept the Blue and White from a shutout.