NEWARK, Del. - - The top seeded Post men's soccer team didn't miss in its four penalty kick opportunities, advancing to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship after playing No. 4 Wilmington to a 1-1 tie through regulation and a pair of overtime periods on Wednesday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
For the second time this season, the Wildcats (12-5-2) scored the first goal of the contest against Post (15-1-2) but couldn't hold on as the Eagles came back to tie the match in the second half before winning on penalty kicks, 4-2.
Unlike the first matchup of the year, the Wildcats control the game and dominated in the stat sheet in the CACC Tournament Semifinal on Wednesday. The Wildcats led in shots, 16-5, including an 11-1 outpouring in the first half.
It didn't take long for the No. 4 seed to get on the board, as Elton Joe tallied his 15th of the season off a great save and cross off the endline by Jordon Ellison. It was the third shot of the early going for the Wildcats as Ellison made a great saving attempt to save the ball from going out over the endline on the right side, putting the ball on the six-yard box where Joe was able to one-time the pass past Post goalkeeper Andre Lindsey at the 13:49 mark.
The Wildcats forced Lindsay to make five saves in the first half, in addition to a few shots that missed just over the top of the crossbar.
The second half started with the Wildcats putting a few good opportunities on the board again, the best coming off the foot of Matko Novak on the left side of the goal. Down towards the endline, Novak's attempt went off the head of Lindsay, keeping the ball out of the goal.
But in the 59th minute the Eagles were able to crack the backline and Wildcat goalkeeper Frank Hall. The ball came over the top of the Wilmington defense and Terrell Whitting barreling down on Hall. Hall came off his line and made a sliding stop, colliding with Whitting but the ball popped out to the top of the 18-yard line. Post defender Jon Dzurilla was following the play and put the rebound into the empty net for the game-tying goal.
Otis Williams had a chance just over a minute later to put the Wildcats back in front, but his shot that slid underneath of Lindsay faded right and wide of the goal frame.
That was the final real chance the Wildcats would be able to put together while the teams played to a 1-1 draw after regulation.
Post's Whitting recorded the only shot of the first overtime period while neither team tallied a shot in the second overtime period, leading to penalty kicks to determine who would advance in the tournament.
Wilmington's first attempt sailed high over the goal by Lance Berry, and Post's Joe Baccielo stepped up and buried the first attempt to put the Eagles ahead. The Eagles rode the momentum of the first set of shots, which led to a 4-2 victory as the Eagles' Francisco Sastre sank the fourth and final attempt to seal the deal.
Post advances to the CACC Tournament Championship on Saturday and will play No. 3 Philadelphia as the Rams defeated No. 2 Dominican in the second CACC Semifinal, also on penalty kicks. The Rams and Chargers also tied the match, 1-1, with the Rams advancing by the virtue of 5-3 on penalty kicks.
Wilmington's fate now rest in the arms of the NCAA East Regional Committee as the East Regional Tournament will be decided on Monday. The Wildcats moved up to the No. 7 position in this week's poll with the tournament taking six at-large bids.
