MIDDLETOWN, PA - The regular season is over, but not before the Spartans of D´Youville College came to town. With this Saturday being Senior Day, Katie Hollinger (Cumberland Valley/Mechanicsburg, PA) of the Lady Lions and David Little (Cumberland Valley/Mechanicsburg, PA), Vedran Divkovic (Schiller/Frankfurt, Germany), Justin Sheaffer (Midd-West/Middleburg, PA) and Michael Marion (Downingtown East/Downingtown, PA) of the Nittany Lions looked to finish out their college careers with one last hooray before the postseason begins.

The first contest featured the red hot Lady Lions against the NEAC´s 2nd place team, D´Youville College. D´Youville came into Saturday´s contest with a NEAC record of 5-1-1 and looked to dominate the Lady Lions with their speedy forward, Stephanie Lozzi. In the first half the Spartans did just that, scoring two goals, one by Lozzi in the 20th minute and the other by Natalie Pelton assisted by Lozzi in the 23rd minute.

In the second half the Lady Lions came out more aggressive and looking to strike. In the 61st minute Jessi Manion (North Penn/North Wales, PA) shot the ball pass the Spartans´ goalie. The goal was assisted by Lindsey Stauffer (Bishop McDevitt/Harrisburg, PA). Three minutes later senior Katie Hollinger got struck down in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Coach Mark Brown tells Hollinger to finish the play and put it in the goal. Hollinger scored easily tying up the game.

With the Spartans sensing a battle in the mist, Lozzi scored her second goal on the day in the 75th minute putting them up by one. Although down and looking out the Lady Lions came back with a ferocious roar scoring three goals in 4 minutes by Adrienne Stine (Northeastern/York, PA) assisted by Amanda Basile(Emmaus/Allentown, PA), an unassisted goal by Jessi Manion and again by Manion assisted by Adrienne Stine. With her final goal, Manion produced a hat trick for the first time in her college career giving the Lady Lions the 5-3 victory.

After a tremendous victory over the Spartans, the Lady Lions seek revenge on the Fighting Tigers of SUNY Cobleskill in their first NEAC playoff appearance. The blue and white will travel to Cobleskill, New York on Thursday, November 6th in search of their first playoff victory in school history.

With emotions running high for the four Nittany Lion seniors, this Saturday´s matchup against the Spartans of D´Youville College proved to be a memorable one. The Nittany Lions continued to be a well-balanced team ripping 15 shots on offense and not allowing the Spartans a shot in the first half. Although their offense broke down the Spartans defense, the Nittany Lions could only get four shots on goal. Fortunately, senior Vedran Divkovic put one past the Spartans´ goal keeper in the 34th minute, assisted by Danny Francis (Owen J. Roberts/Pottstown, PA).

In the second half, Spartans´ midfielder, John Geddis, scored in the 56th minute assisted by Joe Tomasi to tie up the game at 1-1. Although the Spartans scored, their defense could not stop the overwhelming Nittany Lion offense, with the Lions getting off 17 more shots in the half. Divkovic found the back of the net two more times, in the 68th minute assisted by Josh Christ (Living Word Academy/Ephrata, PA) and in the 77th minute assisted by senior Michael Marion. Even though Spartans´ Joe Tomasi scored a last minute goal, the Nittany Lions were able to hold off the Spartans 3-2.

The NEAC playoffs will be hosted by Penn State Harrisburg. The Nittany Lions will match up against SUNY Cobleskill on Friday, November 7th at 2:00 pm. The doubleheader will see University of Dallas playing the first match at 11:30 am against the winner of D´Youville College and Cazenovia.