A late penalty kick sank the Wilmington University men's soccer team, 1-0, at Philadelphia in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference regular season finale on Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Rams (13-4-1, 9-2-1 CACC) clinched the CACC Regular Season Championship while the Wildcats (11-7, 7-5 CACC) solidified the sixth seed for next week's CACC Tournament.
Since Dominican won today's game against Bloomfield, the Wildcats will head to third seeded Concordia for the Quarterfinal on Tuesday. The game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
The Wildcats nearly got on the board in the early going on Friday as Tom Debenham's shot went off the cross bar just 1:57 into the match. The Wildcats put five shots on goal in the first half, but the Rams' Thomas Attamante came up with the save each time to keep the game scoreless heading into the halftime break.
The Rams had the same fate as the Wildcats did in the early going of the second half as Seiji Rose's shot went off the cross bar and an immediate header from Zach Brown was saved b Wilmington's goalkeeper Frank Hall 8:19 into the second frame.
The Wildcats were once again denied an opportunity to score, as a goal was wiped off the board in the 83rd minute due to an offsides call.
The action heated up in the final 15 minutes of play, as a Ram attacker was taken down by Hall in the box. Philadelphia's Angelo Dambalas converted the penalty kick 87:38 into the match, breaking the scoreless tie.
The Wildcats were unable to muster an attack following the goal, as the penalty kick stood for the game-winner.
Wilmington outshot the Rams, 14-11, for the match, including 6-3, with shots on goal. Attamante made six saves for the Rams while Hall recorded two stops in goal for the Wildcats.
The Rams tied Dominican with 28 points in the contest, but the head-to-head tiebreaker gives Philadelphia the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The winners of the four quarterfinal matches on Tuesday will head to Post University for the CACC Semifinals and Championship next weekend.