GLENSIDE, PA. - (Oct. 30, 2010) - Arcadia University men's soccer scored 3 goals and give up nothing as they finish the Commonwealth regular season in dominating fashion with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Crusaders of Alvernia University.  The win was a sweet way to celebrate a great career for the six graduating seniors on Senior Day at the New Field.  A career the seniors hope to improve upon as they enter postseason play in the Commonwealth Conference playoffs next week.  After a rough 3-5 start to the season, Coach Rob Nydick and the Knights were able to turn it around as they ended the regular season with an impressive 11-7 overall record (5-2 record in the Commonwealth). 

On a cold and windy day in Glenside, the first twenty plus minutes of the game saw a lot of physical play and not much else.  The Knights and Crusaders battled back and forth until first year David Jacobs (Havre De Garce, MD/Havre De Grace) sent a pretty centering pass in front of the net for junior Ethan Armstrong (Wissahickon, PA/Wissahickon) to head past Alvernia Keeper, Drew Gilbert, and into the net.  The goal at 27:28 into the first was all the scoring the half would see as Arcadia went into the locker room up 1-0.

The physicality proceeded through much of the second half as the fouls continued to pile up.  Alvernia fouls totaled 11 for the game while Arcadia accumulated 8 of their own.  The fouls and physical play impeded much of the offense for both teams as the score remained 1-0 until sophomore Joe Smeck (Feasterville, PA/Father Judge) rebounded a cross off the goalie and shot it into the left side of the net for the first career goal and points of his collegiate career.  Three minutes later, after one Knight scored his first career goal, senior Joe Clementi (Medford Lakes, NJ/Shawnee), scored the last regular season goal of his career, which seemed a perfectly fitting way to cap off the Knights Senior Day.

Clementi's goal made it 3-0, a cushion more than enough for first year keeper Ryan Lantzy (Pheonixville, PA/Pheonixville), who only faced 1 shot due to the Arcadia defense.  The shut-out gives Lantzy his 6th of the year as he finishes the regular season with a 10-6 record and a 1.17 goals against average.  Gilbert had 10 saves for Alvernia in the loss.  The loss drops the Crusaders to 9-7-2 overall and 2-4-1 in the conference. 

Now Arcadia must sit and scoreboard watch to see who they face in the Conference Semi-final game.  The game will take place on Wednesday (Nov. 3) at either Elizabethtown or Messiah depending on who wins when the two face-off later tonight (7:30PM).  The Knights suffered tough 1-0 losses to both team during the season.  The semi-final game will give AU an opportunity to avenge one of those losses and advance to the Commonwealth Conference Championship game for the second consecutive season.