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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After a 4-10-2 season in 2012, the Lycoming College men's soccer team was predicted to finish ninth in the Commonwealth Conference preseason poll. It finished fourth, as the team posted a 9-7-2 overall record and a 4-4-1 league record, helping it reach the conference playoffs for the first time since 2008, where it will host Lebanon Valley on Monday afternoon, Nov. 4, at 3 p.m.
 
The Commonwealth Conference Tournament game will kick-off at the Shangraw Athletic Complex. Tickets for the game will be available at both the Mulberry Street and Packer Street gates for $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. Children under six are free. Long-sleeve championship T-shirts will be available for $15.
 
The new-look Warriors, under first-year head coach Nate Gibboney, showed resilience throughout the season, dropping back-to-back games just twice and posting a six-game unbeaten streak throughout much of September.
 
The team is one of the toughest defensively in the Commonwealth Conference, allowing just 0.86 goals per game in conference action. The Warriors also allowed two goals in a 2-1 loss to Messiah on Oct. 22, the fewest goals the Falcons scored in a conference game this season.
 
Lycoming's defense is paced by the central defensive backfield of senior Connor McNiff (Marietta, Pa./Donegal) and freshman Bill Kerr (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic). The two pair have solidified the center of the Warrior defense, allowing an average of 10.1 shots per game against conference opponents. The pair also take advantage of scoring opportunities, with McNiff providing game-winning goals against Keystone and Lebanon Valley and Kerr posting a game-winner in overtime against Arcadia.
 
In net, the Warriors will turn to junior Connor Keenan (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East), who has posted a 9-7-2 record this year and posted four shutouts, including in the 2-0 win over Hood that clinched the Warriors' playoff bid on Nov. 2.
 
The offense has also come to life under Gibboney, scoring 35 goals and posting 98 points this year, the most for the team since 2009 and nearly double the 18 goals scored in 2012. Two freshmen have led the way in Alfonce Mutuku (Beltsville, Md./DeMatha Catholic) and Moises Lazo (Bowie, Md./Bowie). Mutuku leads the team with seven goals and Lazo has posted three goals and six assists. Junior Luke Klingler (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area) has added four goals and four assists.
 
Fifth-seeded Lebanon Valley (10-6-3 overall, 4-4-1 Commonwealth) is led by Cam Alexander, who has seven goals and four assists, and Josh Ferguson, who has six goals and three assists this season. Goalkeeper James Clements is 9-5-3 on the season with a .816 save percentage and 1.06 goals-against average.
 
In the first meeting between the two squads on Oct. 8 in Annville, Pa., the Warriors dominated en route to a 2-0 win. Limiting the Dutchmen to just three shots en route to the shutout, the Warriors scored a goal in each half en route to the win, with McNiff and junior Adam Kuntz (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) scoring.
 
The winner of Monday's match will move on to the Commonwealth Conference semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Messiah on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.