Sagehens eliminate men's soccer from SCIAC Tourney

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 3-seeded Chapman University men's soccer team fell to No. 2 seed and host Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 2-1 in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament semifinal on Thursday afternoon at Pomona-Pitzer Soccer Stadium.

The Sagehens advance to the SCIAC Tournament finals against either No. 1 seed University of Redlands or No. 4 seed Occidental College on Saturday for the tournament championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championships.

Pomona-Pitzer (13-5-2 overall) took a 1-0 lead with a goal at 19' by Voja Maric. The sophomore took a pass from teammate Matty Marvin and broke away from the Chapman (10-7-2 overall) defense to get a 1-on-1 chance with Panthers' junior GK Nick Berardi. Maric's shot from the right side traveled out of reach of a diving Berardi and inside the left post for the goal. 

Maric got another breakaway chance at 53', but this time Berardi made the initial save only to allow the rebound to get behind him and Maric was there to finish it to make it 2-0 Sagehens. 

The Panthers got on the board at 82' on a free kick by sophomore M Gino Belassen which was knocked in by sophomore M Jake Sarmiento for his third goal of the season to make it 2-1. Chapman out-shot Pomona-Pitzer 12-8 in the contest. 

Both teams finished with identical 10-4-2 conference records and 32 points in the standings, but Pomona-Pitzer earned the higher seed and the right to host based on a 1-0-1 record head-to-head against Chapman this season. 

It's the second straight year the Panthers have reached the SCIAC Tournament, last season advancing to the finals. 

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore:http://chapman.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/boxscores/20141106_x9pa.xml

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