Center Valley, PA (November 2, 2005) – The DeSales University men’s soccer team advanced to the Freedom Conference Championship game for the second time in the last three years with a 2-0 win over Wilkes University in the opening round of the Freedom Conference playoffs.
The Bulldogs (14-2-2 overall), the #1 seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament, will host the winner of the other semifinal match-up which takes place tonight at Drew University between the Rangers and Lycoming College on Saturday, November 5th at 1:00 pm. The winner of the game will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and be crowned Freedom Conference Champions.
The game-winner came off the foot of freshman German Reyes (Beach Lake, PA/Honesdale) on a rocket shot from about 35 yards out at the 21:59 mark that hit the cross-bar, spun to the ground and wound up in the net. It was Reyes sixth goal of the season and put DSU up 1-0.
The rest of the game was a defensive battle with both teams getting a chance here and there with most of those chances seeing the shots hit wide and high most of the time.
DSU was forced to play a man down for much of the game having a key player sent off the field for an unsportsmanlike foul at the 29:31 mark. Despite the man indifference, The Bulldogs held a 1-0 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the man advantage was erased as a Colonel was sent off the field after receiving his second yellow card. With Wilkes (10-7-2 overall) forced to play on the offensive, DSU broke thru for a 3-on-2 situation late in the game and freshman Ryan Shivers (Cape May Court House, NJ/Middle Township) found fellow freshman Dustin Sturm (North Cape May, NJ/Lower Cape May) who took one touch and beat a charging WU goalkeeper to the right corner.
The goal gave DSU a 2-0 lead and the Bulldogs never looked back. Wilkes did out-shoot DeSales, 15-13, but sophomore Rusty Riedmiller (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) had to make just two saves in recording his ninth shutout of the season. Riedmiller sets a new single-season record with the blanking. Dominik Proctor made four saves for Wilkes.
The last time DSU was in the Freedom Conference Championship game was in 2003 when they lost to Drew University, 1-0. The Bulldogs have a 2-3 all-time record in Freedom playoff games.
