New London, Conn. – November 5, 2008 – Despite rallying from a 3-1 second-half deficit, the Springfield College men’s soccer team’s season came to a close on Wednesday evening after falling 4-1 in penalty kicks to Coast Guard in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men’s Soccer Tournament Quarterfinals.

Coast Guard junior goalkeeper Tim Olah made back-to-back stops and the Bears did not miss in the penalty kick round as fourth-seeded Coast Guard and fifth-seeded Springfield played to a 3-3 tie and Coast Guard advanced 4-1 PK’s.

Trailing by two goals late in the second half, the Pride were able to send the game into overtime as senior Scott Swanekamp scored with eight seconds left in regulation to tie the game and force overtime.

Coast Guard senior James Toohey opened the penalty kick round by converting as did Springfield senior Myles Tilton. In round two, senior David OÂ'Brien scored giving the Bears a 2-1 lead. Olah then stopped senior Brett Drake.

In round three, junior Brandon McMillan scored giving Coast Guard a 3-1 advantage and Olah again came up huge as he stopped senior Jeremy Scheer.

Junior Jacob Larsen ended the game in round four as he fired his shot into the net giving the Bears the berth in the semifinals.

Coast Guard (10-7-2) will now take on top-seed and host Babson on Saturday morning at 10:30 in the semifinals. Sixth-seeded Wheaton will take on second-seeded MIT in the second semifinal.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead on an own goal just 1:50 into the match before Scheer tied the score with a penalty kick in the 15th minute.

Coast Guard regained the lead when Larsen scored off a rebound in the 43rd minute and the Bears took the 2-1 lead to the half.

OÂ'Brien scored on a penalty kick 6:30 into the second half giving Coast Guard a 3-1 lead.

Scheer struck again with senior Dan Cotter assisting in the 65th minute pulling the Pride to within 3-2.

Coast Guard outshot Springfield 21-14.