La Plume, Pa. – Three Keystone College teams are set to open postseason play this week in the Colonial States Athletic Conference playoffs this week. Men's soccer will host a CSAC first round playoff game on Tuesday, field hockey hits the road for a conference semifinal matchup on Wednesday, while volleyball will host a CSAC semifinal on Thursday night.
Men's Soccer
The men's soccer team earned the #4 seed in this fall's conference playoffs and will host #5 Neumann University in a first round matchup on Tuesday night on the turf field in La Plume starting at 7:00 p.m. Keystone finished the regular season with a 9-6-1 overall record and will host a CSAC playoff game for the first time in program history after finishing with a program-best 6-3 record in conference play. The Giants are making their third playoff appearance in the last four years after earning their second postseason bid in a row.
Neumann enters Tuesday's contest with a 7-11 overall record and claimed the #5 seed after going 5-4 in the CSAC including four shutout wins in a row to end the season. The Knights won the regular season meeting between the two sides, 1-0, on October 18 in La Plume.
#3 Cabrini University hosts #6 Gwynedd Mercy University in Tuesday's other quarterfinal matchup with #1 Centenary University and #2 Immaculata University set to hosts Tuesday's winners in semifinal matchups on Thursday. The semifinal winner will advance to Saturday's championship game at the highest seed with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Field Hockey
The field hockey team will travel to top-seeded Gwynedd Mercy University on Wednesday night for a CSAC semifinal matchup starting at 6:00 p.m. Keystone claimed the fourth and final playoff spot in this year's CSAC Tournament by winning a three-way tiebreaker over Immaculata University and Neumann University on goals against in conference play. Keystone posted a 6-10 overall record this season and went 3-4 in CSAC action to earn its second-straight trip to the conference playoffs for the first time since the Giants made three-straight tournament appearances from 2008-2010.
Gwynedd Mercy, the defending CSAC champion, went 12-5 during the regular season including a perfect, 7-0 mark in conference action. The Griffins enter the playoffs having won four consecutive contests and eight of their last nine games. Gwynedd Mercy edged the Giants 2-1 on October 22 in La Plume in the regular season meeting between the two teams.
#2 Cabrini hosts #3 Marywood University in Wednesday's other semifinal matchup. The two semifinal winners will advance to Saturday's championship game which will be played on the campus of the highest remaining seed with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Volleyball
The volleyball team will host a CSAC semifinal this Thursday starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Gambal Athletic Center after earning the #2 seed and a first round bye in the year's playoff tournament. Keystone went 20-9 during the regular season including a program-best 10-1 mark in conference play to secure its highest seed in the CSAC playoffs while also earning the team's second postseason bid in as many years.
The Giants' opponent will be determined by Tuesday night's first round matchups which pit #3 Neumann University against #6 Immaculata University and #4 Marywood University against #5 Notre Dame of Maryland University.
Cabrini University is the top seed for this fall's postseason tournament and will host the lowest remaining seed after Tuesday's matches while the Giants will welcome the highest remaining seed to La Plume on Thursday for semifinal contests. The winners of Thursday's semifinals will meet on Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed for the CSAC Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Keystone went 4-1 against the other teams with three-set wins over Neumann, Marywood, and Notre Dame of Maryland, and a five-set triumph over Immaculata. Cabrini was the only conference team to defeat the Giants this fall, winning in three sets in Radnor on October 6.
