La Plume, PA – Keystone College dealt Cabrini College their first loss in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's soccer play this season, snapping the league leader's 11-game unbeaten streak with a 3-2 win over Cavaliers (13-2-3, 7-1-1 CSAC), who are currently ranked sixth in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region. After holding up their end of three results that needed to go their way, the Giants (7-8-1, 4-5 CSAC) watched as Summit University defeated Gwynedd Mercy University and Immaculata University edge out Cairn University to send Keystone to the CSAC playoffs for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
Keystone will be the #6 seed in this year's postseason tournament and will travel to #3 Immaculata on Tuesday for a first round contest. The start time for Tuesday's playoff game is yet to be determined.
Eddy Enowbi (Silver Spring, MD/Springbrook) scored two goals,
Ofentse Kale (Derwood, MD/Magruder) had a goal and an assist, and
Abreham Kittel (Trumansburg, NY/Charles O. Dickerson) added a pair of assists to lead Keystone to Saturday's win.
Neither team was able to generate any dangerous offensive chances in the opening 13 minutes of Saturday afternoon's contest, but Keystone capitalized on the game's first shot of the game in the 14
th minute. Enowbi ran onto a short thru-ball in the 18-yard box from Kale and finished the short breakaway chance to the far post to give the Giants the early, 1-0 edge.
Keystone nearly doubled their lead in the 30
th minute, but Cabrini goalkeeper CJ Serratore made a great stop on Kittel's point-bank shot. At the other end,
Adam Zbiciak (Saint Johns, MI/St. Johns) answered his counterpart with a spectacular stop, leaping with a one-handed parry of a Cavaliers' shot over the crossbar.
The Giants held the one-goal lead at halftime along with a 7-5 advantage in shots while Cabrini held a slim, 4-3 edge in shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes of play.
Keystone had a pair of shots sail just over the crossbar in the opening minutes of the second half, but Cabrini was able to level the score at 1-1 in the 53
rd minute when Ben Roda picked up a loose ball at the back left post and fired home a shot from six yards out.
The Giants went back in front just three minutes later when Kittel fed a thru-ball to Enowbi, whose hard-angled shot from the left side tuck just inside the far post for his second goal of the game and his team-leading ninth tally of the season to give Keystone a 2-1 lead.
Keystone extended their lead to 3-1 in the 71
st minute as Kittel played a ball over the top of Cabrini's defense where Kale collected it and blasted home his second goal of the season into the left side netting for his second goal of the year.
The Cavaliers would not go quietly and made it a 3-2 game with just 3:49 left in regulation when Drew Vernon scored from close range after a long restart from Sal Zampirri that was flicked on to Vernon by AJ Bishop. Cabrini pressured the Keystone over the final three and a half minutes to try to force overtime, but the Giants' defense blocked a pair of shot and Zbiciak save a desperate header attempt in the dying seconds to preserve the win.
Zbiciak picked up the win in goal after making seven saves on the afternoon while also coming off his line well to deal with several dangerous crosses and thru-balls.
Serratore suffered the loss despite making a game-high nine saves for Cabrini.
Keystone held a 21-18 advantage in shots for the game and a 12-9 edge in shots on goal. The Cavaliers had six corner kick chances for five for the Giants.
Keystone will be looking to avenge a 3-0 regular season defeat suffered at Immaculata on October 10 when the two sides meet in Tuesday's first round playoff matchup.