Beverly, Mass. - November 14, 2015 - In dramatic fashion, the Springfield College men's soccer program advanced past Wentworth Institute of Technology in a penalty-kick shootout Saturday evening at Hempstead Stadium on the campus of Endicott College, a shootout that would decide the team that would secure a spot in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Championship match.

With the win, the Pride, which will face top-seeded and host Endicott College on Sunday at 2 p.m., is now 15-4-2, while Wentworth, ranked No. 12 in the latest NCAA Division III Regional Rankings, closes 2015 with a mark of 15-5-1 overall. Wentworth held an 23-19 shot advantage throughout the contest, while also holding an 8-2 margin in corner kicks.

Senior goalkeeper Billy Schmid (Wethersfield, Conn.) kept his senior season alive and was phenomenal between the pipes, as he finished with a career-high 12 stops in the victory, while his counterpart, Matthew Sekerak (Winthrop, Maine) posted 11 saves in the loss. Freshman midfielder Keon Haji (Shrewsbury, Mass.) posted a career-best three points during the contest, including a goal and an assist.

After a scoreless first half, it only took 4:52 into the second stanza for the Pride to break the scoreless tie, when Haji picked up a missed Springfield penalty kick and found the back of the net for his third goal in a Springfield College uniform.

Just 14:51 later, Haji forced a turnover in the Pride's defensive territory, and broke free from a few Leopard players, carrying the ball up the field, before sliding a pass over to junior forward Luke Alvaro (Chicopee, Mass.), who took one touch and found the back of the net for his team-leading 16th goal of the season.

Wentworth quickly countered, just 3:34 later, when Max Hilchuk (Wethersfield, Conn.) found the back of the net, cutting the Leopards' deficit in half, before a strike from David Cook (Waterville, Maine) in the 73rd minute evened the score at two apiece late in the contest.

After a pair of scoreless back-and-forth overtime frames, the two sides went into a penalty-kick shootout that would decide the victor, and the team that would take on Endicott for the ECAC Championship on Sunday.

Head coach Steffen Siebert went to the bench, and subbed in junior goalkeeper Zach Richard (Millbury, Mass.) for the penalty-kick shootout, a move that would eventually pay off for the Pride.

Stepping up first for Springfield was sophomore Ryan Elster (Sutton, Mass.), who slotted his chance into the back of the net, before Sam Martins (Dartmouth, Mass.) equalized the score, converting on a chance of his own to keep it at one apiece. Next, Tim Wood (Derry, N.H.) found twine, before Alberto Benhamu (Caracas, Venezuela) kept it at two apiece with a strike of his own. In round three, first-year Brad Deckel (Lansdale, Pa.) pumped a shot past Sekera, before Richard came up huge and stuffed Emmett Basaca (San Diego, Calif.) to give the Pride the 3-2 advantage after three frames.

In the fourth round, Alvaro drilled the back of the net, before he was matched by Hilchuk, leaving the fifth and final shot up to sophomore defender Douglas Enga (Syosset, N.Y.), who converted, sending his team to the championship match.