Millersville-Cal Box
Millersville, Pa. - California (Pa.) scored two goals just over seven minutes apart late in the second half to erase a 2-1 deficit and then held off a furious rally by Millersville while playing a man down to capture the 2008 PSAC men's soccer championship with a 3-2 win over host and regionally No. 1 ranked Millersville on Saturday afternoon.
Cal twice came from behind in the game, once early in the first half and then again in the second half. Millersville opened the scoring just four minutes into the game as Sean McLaughlin notched his 13th goal of the year for the PSAC East champion Marauders as he was fed a nice through ball while sprinting toward the goal and he beat Cal keeper Derek Yobbi to his bottom left to give Millersville the early lead. Kyle Loughlin was credited with the assist.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Cal came back to tie the score 1-1 just over six and a half minutes later at the 10:37 mark when Jeremy Blymiller one-timed a shot past Millersville keeper Matt Langione. The play started when the Vulcans were awarded a corner kick and after the ball had bounced off several players, it came to Blymiller at the upper right corner of the box, where he wound up and beat Langione to his lower right.
There was no more scoring until a little over 10 minutes into the second half when Millersville made it 2-1 on a goal by Pat Buffuto. Matt Procopio started the play by serving the ball into the box from about 40 yards out. The ball then went off the foot of Loughlin and back to Buffuto at the top of the box, who finished for his seventh goal of the year.
That lead would last longer than Millersville's first lead, but still just over 13 minutes. At the 70:56 mark, Sede Wilson found a ball directly to the left of the goal and served it off the hands and over the head of Langione to the other side the goal, where Mike Luecke was waiting to head the ball into an empty net as Langione got caught on the other side after trying to knock away Wilson's serve that went over his head. A little over seven minutes later, the Vulcans took the lead for good as Justin Taucher blasted a one-timer from about 30 yards out just inside the right post to put the Vulcans up 3-2.
The Vulcans were then forced to hold off a furious Millersville attack as the Marauders attempted to tie the game in the final 10 minutes of the contest by bombarding the box with attackers. Cal was forced to play a man down for the last 10 minutes after the Vulcans were assessed a red card a little over two minutes following their go-ahead goal. A second red card was issued to Cal with just seven seconds left in the game. Millersville took a free kick from just beyond midfield on Cal's end following the second red card and the ball bounced around like a pinball and off several players just in front of the goal but it was gathered by Yobbi before Millersville could put it in the net and time ran out.
For his efforts in the tournament, Yobbi was named the tournament MVP. He made five saves in the game for Cal.
Both teams await possible NCAA playoff berths. The announcement will come via the NCAA office at noon on Monday.