BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. (Nov. 9, 2012) – Friday afternoon's first semifinal game of the NEC men's soccer tournament saw fourth seeded Saint Francis University upset No. 1 seed Quinnipiac 4-3 in penalty kicks to advance to Sunday's championship match.
 
“I am very proud of the way the guys stuck together today and got the win,” head coach Michael Casper said. “Having Ryan [Byers] score the early goal for us was big and put them under pressure. In the second half they has the wind, got a goal and put us under but the guys stuck together, battled through it and defended well. Danny [Valcicak] was big all game, made a couple great saves and was stellar in the penalty kick rounds. We are excited we get to keep playing and compete for a title on Sunday.”
 
SFU wasted no time in getting on the board as Ryan Byers (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) notched the first goal of his career just 1:33 into the contest. Byers took a pass from senior Wayne Tiller (Magnolia, Del./Caesar Rodney) and delivered a left-footed strike from the top of the 18-yard box to put the Flash up 1-0. The remainder of the first half focused more on possession than offensive chances with only five total shots in the period and SFU took the lead into the break.
 
Quinnipiac took to the field in the second half with offense on their mind, outshooting the Flash 8-1 in the period. The Bobcats secured the equalizer at the 55:52 mark of period two when leading QU scorer Philip Suprise collected his ninth goal of the season to knot the game at 1-1. Byers, who took four of SFU's six shots on the day, had a chance to win the game late in regulation but his shot rang off the near post and sent the match into overtime.
 
Starting keeper Daniel Valcicak (Herndon, Va./Gonzaga College) made stops left and right for his team, three in all in the double overtime periods, to keep SFU's season alive.
 
The game itself goes in the books as a 1-1 tie between the Red Flash (6-7-6) and Bobcats (10-5-3) as these two squads played through two overtime periods. With no victor decided after 110 minutes of action, the match went into a best-of-five penalty kick format.
 
Quinnipiac elected to shoot first with Suprise, but Valcicak dove to his left to make the sprawling save. Tiller put the Flash up 1-0 after one round of PKs when he buried his shot far post. QU hit on their second attempt but was followed up on a make by senior James Price (Christchurch, New Zealand/St. Andrew’s College). The third round went to Saint Francis with a successful shot by Byers and a miss off the crossbar by Quinnipiac's Ryan Malki.
 
Round four pulled the Bobcats a bit closer and the score sat 3-2 Saint Francis with one final round remaining. After QU's Brandon Strain-Goode tied things up at three, Nick Kolarac (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny) rifled a shot past the Bobcats keeper to send the Red Flash into Sunday's championship match.
 
This trip to the championship game marks the fourth time in program history the Red Flash have reached that level and the third under Casper. Saint Francis will be going for its first conference title win though on Sunday as each of the previous three trips however have resulted in one-goal losses.
 
Saint Francis will now face No. 2 seed Fairleigh Dickinson Sunday at 1 p.m. for the NEC title.