WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – If ever there was a time for a quirky goal in a soccer match, the NCAA Division III Tournament is as good a one as any. And did the 15^th-ranked Lycoming College men's soccer team ever get one on Sunday afternoon, with sophomore Abdullahi Abdi (Seattle, Wash./James Garfield) scoring with a corner kick in the 58^th minute to lift the team to a 2-1 NCAA Division III Championships Second Round win over 21^st-ranked Dickinson College at the Shangraw Athletic Complex.
 
The Warriors (18-1-2 overall) extended their unbeaten streak to a school-record 20 games and reached the NCAA Division III Soccer Championship Third Round for the first time in school history, where they will face sixth-ranked Amherst College at a site to be determined on Saturday, Nov. 21.
 
Lycoming pressured throughout much of the second half, firing 13 shots in the period and drawing five corner kicks, while Dickinson (13-5-3 overall) was hindered by 15 foul calls. Moments after the Warriors lost their center back, freshman Sainclair Tueno (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) to an injury, the team pressed up and forced a corner kick after a shot by sophomore Mateo Velasquez (Scotrun, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) that was saved by the keeper and deflected out of bounds.
 
On the ensuing corner, Velasquez delivered a corner that sailed high before crossing the end line, with the official ruling that it was deflected by a Dickinson defender. On the ensuing corner from the right side, Abdi delivered a hard liner that curved into the left corner of the net.
 
"Scoring off a corner barely happens in any league," Abdi said. "I saw a mismatch in the box, so I was trying to get the ball as close to the goal as possible because we have Kyle Thomas, who is 6-6, and Jordan Logan and a lot of good guys in the box. It just ended up going straight back in the net. It's one of those things that happens once in a lifetime."
 
Lycoming nearly got a third goal in the 69^th minute, putting the ball in the back of the net, but an offside call negated the goal. Dickinson took eight shots in the second half, but junior goalkeeper Josh Gildea (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) easily stopped the two shots that were on net.
 
In the first half, play was crisp and quick throughout, with neither team maintaining long periods of possession and just 12 fouls being called. The Warriors broke onto the scoreboard first in the 13^th minute, scoring off a corner kick set in by sophomore Abdullahi Abdi (Seattle, Wash./James Garfield) that was deflected down to the ground, where sophomore Kyle Thomas (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) tapped it over to freshman Sainclair Tueno (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair), who knocked it into a wide open net.
 
"I just read the play," Tueno said. "I don't know exactly what happened, but the ball just happened to fall, so I put it in the goal."
 
The Devils responded just 121 seconds later, though, with Ward Van de Water getting the ball off a deflection on the right side about 35 yards out. With one quick dribble, he fired a high, hard liner into upper right to tie the game.
 
Both teams struggled to get back into an offensive rhythm for much of the rest of the half, with the best chance for either team to score coming in the 30^th minute, when Alfred Hylton-Dei had space at the outside of the 18, but passed it back before the ball. The ball got back to his feet inside the box, but his shot to the right corner was right at Lycoming goalkeeper Josh Gildea (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh).
 
Gildea finished with four saves off Dickinson's 14 shots, while Dickinson's Jacob Schreer stopped seven shots in the game's final 57 minutes. Jeremy Palcan played the first 33 minutes, allowing one goal for the Red Devils.
 
The game wrapped up a great weekend of soccer at the Shangraw Athletic Complex, as the Warriors hosted NCAA Championships play for the first time in program history. More than 500 fans filled the complex for the four-team regional and in the end, that helped the Warriors advance to the round of 16 at the champonships for the first time in program history, according to third-year head coach Nate Gibboney.
 
"It was huge for the team to be able to play at home," Gibboney said. "Not to have to miss a ton of class time, to be able to sleep in their own beds before some big games and most importantly, they got to play on a field they are familiar with. The fans were great the entire weekend. They sat through the freezing cold yesterday and the nice weather today. They all came back and were into the game. That is a huge impact on our guys, especially on day two, when the legs are heavy. It adds the motivation to fight and battle and work like they did."