WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Sophomore Abdullahi Abdi (Seattle, Wash./James Garfield) posted a second-half goal and an assist to lift the top-seeded and 18^th-ranked Lycoming College men's soccer team a 2-0 win over No. 5-seed Widener University in the MAC Commonwealth Championship semifinal at the Shangraw Athletic Complex on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 4.
 
"Any win in the playoffs is a big win," third-year head coach Nate Gibboney said. "I can't say enough about the guys' great preparation. Our goal has been to make the conference championship game all season. The energy was fantastic today. The execution was on-point almost all day."
 
Lycoming (15-1-2 overall) advances to the conference final for the third year in the row, as they will host Messiah at the Shangraw Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 7. A game time will be announced on Thursday.
 
"We certainly don't see ourselves as inexperienced," Gibboney said. "We have a lot of guys who have been here before. We have juniors that won a conference championship two years ago and reached the finals last year and sophomores who played in a final game last year. Although, we don't have any seniors, we certainly feel very good about our experience in these games."
 
The Warriors got on the board just 11 minutes after going a man-up, as Abdi delivered a free kick from 30 yards out to the left side of the goalbox, where it met the head of freshman Sainclair Tueno (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair), who flicked it into the net.
 
Abdi sealed the win 20 minutes later with a perfect team goal, as sophomore Kyle Thomas (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) drove a beautiful through ball down the right side for sophomore Mateo Velasquez (Scotrun, Pa./Pocono Mountain East), who crossed it to the left side of the net for Abdi, who finished off his 10^th goal of the season with just 8:43 remaining.
 
Widener (9-10-1 overall) took the first shot of the second half, with Malic Krcic dropping a header off a cross just over the crossbar early in the period, but Lycoming, which outshot the Pride, 9-4, in the first half, soon put the ball in dangerous position and drew a foul just outside the box. Soon after a red card was issued on a Widener player and after the restart, Abdi delivered a shot that was stopped by keeper Sousa and Tueno fired the restart off the post.
 
Lycoming began to control play more with the man advantage, setting up the two late goals. Defensively, the team hunkered down after the first goal, with junior Josh Gildea (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) making one save and Widener taking just three shots in the final 30 minutes.
 
In the first half, the Warriors pressured early, keeping the Pride on their toes through the first 10 minutes, taking three corner kicks in that time. On one of those corners, sophomore Jordan Logan (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) just missed getting his head on the ball to put it in the goal.
 
Widener got a few good chances in the half, with Zac Furia firing a shot off Gildea on the right side before Eric Taylor lifted the rebound over the crossbar. Near halftime, Widener had another solid chance when a cross came into the box that Gildea deflected out and Grant Shaffer came in to fire a shot that Gildea collected into his chest on another dive.
 
"Josh is really hitting his stride right now," Gibboney said. "He was fantastic on Saturday against Widener and he turned around and maybe topped that today. That save in the first half was incredible and absolutely would have changed the game."
 
Lycoming also had its chances, nearly getting a goal in the final minute of the half, when a cross came through the goalbox just in front of junior Mike Amaya (Stockton, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional), who just missed the connection to deliver it into the net.
 
The Warriors finished with 21 shots, while holding the Pride to 11. Gildea finished with five saves to earn his seventh shutout and his second straight, while Sousa stopped eight shots for the Pride.