Box Score

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Senior Connor Keenan (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) picked up his third consecutive shutout and helped the Lycoming College men's soccer team establish a school-record by extending its streak of scoreless minutes to 290 to start a season, but Susquehanna University's Zach Zoller was equal to the task, as both pitched shutouts to leave the 14^th annual Battle of the Boot with its first draw, a 0-0 tie, in front of 710 fans at the Sassafras Field on Wedneday night, Sept. 3.
 
Keenan made two saves to earn the shutout, the Warriors' third straight as it improved to 2-0-1 overall, the best start for the team since the 2008 team also started with two ties and a win. However, the team has never started a season with three straight shutouts, as it continued a stretch of eight shutouts in the team's past nine games, dating back to the final regular season game of 2013.
 
Susquehanna (1-1-1 overall), who has reached at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two years, retained the "Boot," a mounted bronzed cleat, with the tie by virtue of a 3-1 win in 2013. However, the tie was the first time in the history of the trophy game that Susquehanna did not win the game in Selinsgrove and snapped a string of seven straight losses there dating back to 1997.
 
As is typical of a Susquehanna-Lycoming game, the first two periods were filled with tough midfield play and several chances as the game continued to move along. After a first half in which each team took just two shots, the Warriors fired eight in the second half and the Crusaders managed five. Lycoming was a little more accurate, putting six shots on net in regulation, but each time Susquehanna goalkeeper Zach Zoller was up to the task.
 
In the first overtime, the Warriors kept the pressure on, taking four more shots, but couldn't get a shot past Zoller. The defense, meanwhile, was able to hold off any Crusader pressure.
 
In the second overtime, Susquehanna was the only team getting a shot off, with David Trank getting space on the left side of the field, but his line drive shot was easily scooped up by Keenan.
 
Lycoming fired 14 shots on net in the game, led by four from freshman Abdullahi Abdi (Seattle, Wash./James Garfield). Susquehanna finished with just seven shots in the contest and two on goal, led by three shots from Trank.
 
Zoller finished with eight saves for the Crusaders.
 
The Warriors get back on the field on Sunday, Sept. 7, when they head to Pitt-Bradford for a 3 p.m. non-conference contest.