BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's soccer team won a dramatic, 1-0 overtime match at Goucher College on October 27 to clinch the program's first-ever Landmark Conference Tournament berth and the Greyhounds' first conference tournament appearance in 15 years.
The fourth seeded Hounds, 7-8-2 overall and 4-3 in Landmark Conference play under first-year Head Coach Bob Wilkinson, head to top seed Elizabethtown College for a Landmark Conference Semifinal on Wednesday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. Moravian last played in a conference tournament in 2003 when the squad lost at Elizabethtown, 3-0, in the Commonwealth Conference Semifinal.
The program's last conference postseason victory as a Commonwealth Conference Semifinal match at Elizabethtown in 2002 that the Hounds won 2-0. The Blue and Grey were last in the postseason in 2016 when the squad tied William Paterson (N.J.) University 0-0 in the first round of the ECAC Division III Tournament but it was the Pioneers that advanced on penalty kicks.
This fall, Moravian was 5-2-2 through September before running into No. 17 Lycoming College, falling 2-1 on the road. The Greyhounds and Blue Jays met in Bethlehem on October 17 for the regular season meeting with Elizabethtown capturing a 2-1 win on John Makuvek Field on a goal in the 72nd minute, just three minutes after the Hounds had toed the contest.
Sophomore midfielder Alec Aloia leads the Greyhounds with six goals, three of them game-winners including the playoff clinching goal, and three assists while freshman defender Jared Stafford has netted five goals. Freshman midfielder Anthony Nagy and sophomore forward Ethan Blakely have both contributed three goals and two assists for the Hounds while senior Rocky Fatuova has two goals and an assist.
Senior defender Matthew Clayton has one goal and two assists while freshman midfielder Safa Turkdonmez has added a goal and an assist. Freshman midfielder Andrew Goodolf, sophomore midfielder Jorge Aguilar and sophomore midfielder Riley McHugh each have scored once this fall while senior defender David Durski and freshman midfielder Kaiden Chinchar each have added one assist.
Sophomore goalie Michael Bone has posted a 1.70 goals-against average, a 7-7-2 record, his first career shutout this past Saturday and 67 saves in 1,380 minutes of action for the Greyhounds while junior keeper Yamil Yunez has seven saves in 85 minutes. Bone and Yunez combined on one shutout this fall while freshman goalie Mason LeSage has two saves in 72 minutes of action.
In addition to Clayton, Fatuova, Stafford and Durski, Moravian's defense has been helped by senior defender Michael Guarino and senior Brandon Percey. The Hounds have also received strong minutes from junior midfielder Jon Matthews, senior midfielder Brendan Docherty and freshman midfielder Quinn Middleton.
Elizabethtown enters the contest with an 8-4-4 overall record after going 5-0-2 in Landmark Conference contests. The winner of the Greyhounds-Blue Jays match will face the winner of Wednesday's other semifinal between second seed The Catholic University of America and Drew University on Saturday, November 3 in the 2018 Landmark Conference Championship match at the highest seed. The winner of that contest will receive the conference's automatic berth to the 2018 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.
