PSUAC Soccer Championships Feature Several Past Champs
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 2022 PSUAC Soccer Championship tournaments began in earnest last week and are will end on Wednesday, November 2nd with two championship games at Panzer Stadium on the University Park campus. The PSUAC will crown a men's and women's soccer champion in a new venue as the event moves from West Turf Fields to the Division I lacrosse program's stadium which opened just four years ago.
Advancing to the championship games are mostly familiar faces as Penn State Brandywine and Penn State Mont Alto meet in the women's championship contest. On the men's side, we'll have a rematch of last year's classic as Brandywine squares off against Penn State Lehigh Valley. Lehigh Valley is the only team in either tournament to pull an upset on a higher seeded team in any round this year.
Brandywine has dominated the recent soccer scene in the PSUAC in both the men's and women's game, winning five straight men's titles and seven of the last eight. On the women's side, Mont Alto broke Brandywine's streak of four straight championships with their win over Penn State Schuylkill in last year's final.
The championship games will begin with the women's game on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. After a break, the men's game will kick-off at 7 p.m. Games will be streamed live on the PSU Campus Athletics Network at the link below, or the app!
Men's Soccer Championship Page
Women's Soccer Championship Page
Watch Live
Women's Championship
#2 Penn State Brandywine (8-6 overall, 4-1 PSUAC) vs. #1 Penn State Mont Alto (8-6 overall, 5-0 PSUAC)
Wednesday, November 2nd, 12:00 p.m.
Mont Alto has trended upwards for a few years, finally breaking through in 2021 for their first women's soccer title. That win snapped Brandywine's four-year stretch of dominance. Now the script is flipped as Brandywine looks to prevent Mont Alto from repeating as champs. The teams met in a nailbiter in late September as they swapped goals before Mont Alto's Madison Eberly scored the game winner in the 66th minute. Mont Alto dominated the stat line, outshooting Brandywine 22-5 and getting 17 corner kicks. First Team All-Conference selections for Mont Alto include defender Grace Banfe, midfielder Lacey Daum and forwards Avery Diehl and Eberly. Brandywine counters with First Teamers Gia Cetroni and Jess James at midfield and Zoey Lineman at forward. The middle of the field, and how Cetroni and James are able to keep the ball away from Mont Alto's powerful attack may be the difference in the game.
Men's Championship
#3 Penn State Lehigh Valley (11-5-1 overall, 7-2-1 PSUAC) vs. #1 Penn State Brandywine (18-0-2 overall, 9-0 PSUAC)
Wednesday, November 2nd, 7:00 p.m.
Talk about a familiar match-up. Situated an hour apart down the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, these two have played some classic games in the past two seasons. Despite Brandywine dominating this year's game 5-0 at home, Lehigh Valley has been the only team close to slaying Goliath in nearly five years. In that time, Brandywine has not lost a conference game. They have tied one, against, you guessed it, Lehigh Valley. That came last season during the regular season, which ultimately culminated with the two teams repeating their performance in the championship game in 2021. That game had it all--near misses, great shots, great saves, hard tackles and a golden goal from Brandywine to win it in overtime. Brandywine went ahead and captured the USCAA Men's Division II Soccer National Championship after that and hasn't looked back. Lehigh Valley will need its best performance from First Team All-Conference selections John Cupitt and Jerod Younes to keep up with a Brandywine offense that averaged more than six goals a game. Led by co-Player of the Year Chris Manful, Brandywine also has a strong defense, allowing only eight goals all season. Raymond Kelly and Kyle Reuter lead the way on the backline for the defending champs, and Alexis Cordova Bernal and Lex Smith control the middle of the field.
Penn State Lehigh Valley Lineup
CHAMPIONSHIP FAN INFORMATION (Panzer Stadium)
- Gates will open one hour prior to each game. Fans should enter Panzer Stadium at Gate B located on Dauer Dr. (between the Bryce Jordan Center and Panzer Stadium).
- Fans are permitted to bring bags, but will be subject to screening by security prior to entry.
- Concessions will be available at Panzer Stadium. Fans are NOT allowed to bring in food or beverage items.
- Fans will be restricted to the Panzer Stadium bleachers. Access to the field will only be granted to participants and staff.
- Parking is available in the Jordan East Lot, which is located adjacent to the Bryce Jordan Center and Panzer Stadium. Penn State charges for all parking on University property. Parking may be purchased at a discounted rate if done prior to the day of the event using the Championship Parking link below. Spectators may also purchase parking the day of the event using the ParkMobile app.
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Championship Parking
- Other Parking Information