PSAC release

Live Stats: ESU-Millersville / Shippensburg-Slippery Rock

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University will begin its pursuit of the 20th PSAC men's soccer championship in school history when the Warriors host Millersville in the semifinals on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

ESU (12-6, 6-3) is the No. 2 seed after sharing the regular season championship with Shippensburg (13-5, 6-3), which claimed the top seed by virtue of its 1-0 home win over the Warriors on Oct. 6. Millersville (11-4-2, 5-3-1) is seeded No. 3 and defending champion Slippery Rock (11-6-1, 5-4) is the No. 4 seed after winning a head-to-head tiebreaker with Mercyhurst.

All four schools survived challenging PSAC schedules in a conference that saw seven of the 10 teams hit double-figures in wins in their 18-game regular season schedules. Shippensburg is a surprise entrant to the PSAC postseason after being picked last in the preseason poll; the other three schools have all played in the championship game within the last three seasons.

The top remaining seed among the winners of the ESU-Millersville and Shippensburg-Slippery Rock games will host the championship game on Saturday at 6 p.m.

ESU has won 19 of the 48 championships awarded in PSAC history, including 15 in the last 28 seasons under head coach Jerry Sheska. The Warriors strung together a conference record seven titles from 1997-2003, and most recently claimed the championship in 2006 and 2007. ESU's 19 championships are one behind Lock Haven's 20 for the most in conference history.

The Warriors won the first meeting with Millersville this season, 3-2 (2OT), to break a six-game losing streak in the series that ESU owns, 42-13-3. Senior forward Shastri Spencer had a hand in all three goals for the Warriors, scoring their first goal and assisting on scores by redshirt senior midfielder Michael Kane in the 76th minute and the game-winner by junior forward Greg Schook with 3:06 left in the second overtime.

Kane scored the game-winner with 1:38 left in the first overtime in the Warriors' 1-0 victory over Bloomsburg on Saturday night that clinched their playoff berth. Kane also had the game-winning goal in overtime against Gannon (2-1), and ESU posted three of its six PSAC wins in extra time.

Millersville has played in the last two PSAC championship games, falling to California, 3-2, in 2008 and Slippery Rock, 2-1, last season. Andrew Dukes (11 goals) and Kyle Loughlin (eight goals) lead an offense that scored 41 goals in 17 games, and Matt Langione will make his 78th career start in goal and has 25 shutouts.

The recent history between the two schools includes Millersville's 3-2 (OT) win in the semifinals in 2008, when Jason Shegda forced overtime for the Warriors with 31 seconds left before Loughlin scored 48 seconds into the extra session.

The Warriors' fifth-year senior midfield combination of Kane and Danny Drago (86 career starts) leads an attack that has been complimented by the arrival of Spencer, the team's top scorer with seven goals and six assists after earning junior college All-America honors at Monroe (N.Y.). A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Spencer had a standout season at Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg High School in 2006.

Drago was a two-time All-America selection at back before moving to the midfield this season. He started all 67 games on the Warriors' NCAA Tournament teams in 2006, 2007 and 2008 before missing all but four games last season to gain a medical redshirt. He has 14 career goals and seven assists, and ESU is 63-19-4 when he is in the starting lineup.

The back line of senior goalkeeper Troy Hernandez, junior Josh Arcona, sophomores Suane McLeish and Steve Sollecito and freshman Khriswayne Wallace started the first 16 games before McLeish was forced out of the lineup due to injury last week. ESU has allowed just 16 goals in 18 games and Hernandez has a 0.82 goals against average with seven shutouts.

Other key contributors include Schook (five goals) and freshman Marc DeFeo (two goals) at forward and freshman Matthew Geidner (four goals), senior Drew Repsher (one goal) and sophomore Garrison Draper in the midfield. ESU has used 11 different starting lineup combinations this season.

Ticket prices for Wednesday's semifinal and Saturday's final (if ESU hosts) are $7 for adults, $2 for students and free for any PSAC students with a valid ID.