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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – With both teams coming off runs to the NCAA Division III Tournament Second Round in 2013, the rivalry between the Lycoming College men's soccer team and Susquehanna University will take on a new intensity this season when the two teams meet in the 14^th annual Battle of the Boot on Wednesday night, Sept. 3, at Susquehanna's Sassafras Fields.
 
The Warriors (2-0 overall) opened the season with a pair of shutouts, downing Ursinus (1-0) and Keystone (2-0), marking just the third time in school history (1962, 2004, 2014) that the program has started a season with two shutouts. Sophomore Moises Lazo (Bowie, Md./Bowie) led the Warriors against Keystone, posting a goal and an assist, while senior goalkeeper Connor Keenan (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) has made five saves in the pair of shutouts.
 
The Crusaders are coming off a 1-1 opening weekend at the Drew Fall Festival, posting a 1-0 overtime win against Kean before falling to SUNY Geneseo, 2-0. Joe DeLuca scored the game-winner for Susquehanna in the opening game.
 
The Warriors have won three of the first 13 meetings in the trophy game and have never won the game in Selinsgrove in six opportunities. The Warriors last held the Boot in 2011, when Charlie Vess '13 delivered the winning strike on a breakaway in a 1-0 overtime win. The Crusaders have won the last two meetings, including a 3-1 win in Williamsport in 2013.

The Battle for the Boot has grown in stage and size during the 14 years of the rivalry, with the crowds in the past six years averaging more than 500 fans. In three of the past five years, it has been the best attended game on the Lycoming College men's soccer team's schedule. (If not for the Commonwealth Conference championship game which drew 2,500 in 2013, the 567 fans that visited the Shangraw Athletic Complex for the Battle of the Boot would have been the highest-attended game of the season for the Warriors.)
 
Also adding to the rivalry is the relationship between the two head coaches – Lycoming head coach Nate Gibboney played for Susquehanna head coach Jim Findlay at Susquehanna from 2001-05, where Gibboney was an all-conference defender and helped the Crusaders to three wins in the Battle of the Boot. Findlay also has ties to Lycoming, as he served as an assistant coach for the Warriors in 1997 before becoming Susquehanna's head coach in 1998.
 
The trophy is a bronzed cleat mounted to a wood platform with a plaque reading "Battle of the Boot – Susquehanna vs. Lycoming" and is awarded to the winning team each season. The host institution switches annually between the rival schools.