Lebanon Valley 3, Hood 2

LVC Starters
Avery (GK), Gallagher, Skye, Herron, Manmiller, Gibbons, Detweiler, Prince, Quirk, McHale, Ouayakhaf

Hood Starters
Centeno (GK), Maddox, C. Pillari, J. Pillari, Demich, Fawley, Bulgarelli, Diaz, Sloan, Ellerson, Monarrez

How It Happened
Lebanon Valley kept its playoff hopes alive and held off a late push from Hood and defeated the Blazers 3-2 on a rain-soaked Wednesday afternoon at Herbert Field. Curtis Washburn's late-game tally proved to be the game winner in the victory that pushed the Dutchmen's overall record to 7-9, but more importantly, gave LVC a 4-3 mark in MAC Commonwealth action.

Right at the 25 minute mark in the first, Matt Prince gave the Dutchmen the lead when Tyler Skye passed it to the center and Prince beat the goalie to the right side. Later in the first, Ian McGinnis similarly ran down the center of the field right outside of the box and waited for a solid pass from Austin Freeman. McGinnis took the pass and one-timed it into the net for the 2-0 LVC lead, which was the score heading into the break.

For the first 35 minutes of the second half, a solid back line and tremendous goaltending kept the Blazers off the scoreboard. The final 10 minutes of the match got a little interesting, however. In the 82nd minute, Curtis Washburn took a pass from Freeman and scored to make it a 3-0 game. In the 86th minute, after a foul gave Hood a free kick about 20 yards out, Drew Demich, the conference's leading scorer, bent the ball into the back-left side of the net to bring the Blazers to within two at 3-1.

With 34 seconds to go, Alec van Bronkhorst scored off of an assist from Demich to make the score 3-2, but the Dutchmen were able to hold off Hood for the final 30 seconds and edge the Blazers 3-2.

Inside the Numbers
 - Hood held the edge in shots (24-15) and shots on goal (11-8).
 - LVC generated more corner kick opportunities at 7-5.
 - Alex Detweiler and McGinnis had four shots apiece, while Prince added three more.

Saving Grace
Cam Avery was stout between the pipes and made several big stops for the Dutchmen. For the game, he stopped nine shots, including seven huge saves in the second half.

Playoff Picture
LVC sits in third place in the MAC Commonwealth with one conference match to go. With a win on Saturday at Stevenson, the Dutchmen can clinch a playoff spot. LVC can still get into the playoffs with a loss this Saturday, but will need help from other teams.

Celebrating the Seniors
The 2016 LVC men's soccer seniors were originally scheduled to be honored before today's game, however the rain put a damper on the pre-game festivities and honoring the seniors could not happen. Information on each senior is listed below.

Joe Gallagher
Joe is captain this season and a political science major who plans to work and then attend law school after graduation. He would like to thank his parents for coming out and supporting him, and the coaching staff for all of their help these past four years.

Cam Alexander
Cam was named a captain this year and is an economics and business dual major. His future plans include staying in college as long as possible so that he can use his fourth year of eligibility. Cam would like to thank his parents for always supporting soccer. No matter how far away he was, they always found a way to be there and he couldn't have asked for two better fans than his parents.

Jake Herron
Jake is an accounting and business dual major and after graduation, he plans on continuing his education. Jake would like to thank his mom for being here as long as she could.

Cody Manmiller
Cody is an English communications major and he plans to cover sports in some capacity as a journalist or in public relations after graduation. He would like to thank his parents for doing everything for him, and he would like to thank his coaches, teammates, and Trav.

Bradley Mehl
Bradley is an early child education and special education major, and plans to begin teaching at the elementary school level post graduation. He would like to thank his parents for supporting him and always coming to his games over his four years here at LVC.

Curtis Washburn
Curtis is an actuarial science major and plans on becoming an Actuary and traveling the world after he graduates. Curtis wants to thank his parents, teammates, and girlfriend Danielle for all of their support.

Matt Blanke
Matt is a biology major and plans on attending graduate school to become a physician's assist after graduation. He wants to thank his parents for always supporting him, both on and off the field, and the coaching staff and team for making these past four years so memorable.

Showdown with Stevenson Awaits LVC
The Dutchmen's regular season finale takes place this Saturday at 3 p.m. at Stevenson with a trip to the playoffs on the line.