Mike Smart
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Junior Mike Smart and the Monarch defense will look to contain the Misericordia offense when the teams meet in the Freedom Confernece semi-finals Wednesday night

King's Men's Soccer to Face Misericordia Wednesday in Freedom Conference Semi-Final, Watch Pre-Game Video

11/5/2013 1:00:00 PM


NOVEMBER 5, 2013

KING'S MEN'S SOCCER TEAM TRAVELING TO MISERICORDIA FOR FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS

Niall Croke
WILKES-BARRE — A pair of local rivals who know each other extremely well will square off for a trip to the Freedom Conference title gem when the King's College men's soccer team travels to face Misericordia University in a league tournament semi-final matchup set for 7:00 p.m. at Mangelesdorf Field in Dallas.

Tickets, as set by the Middle Atlantic Conferences Office, are set at $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $2 for students, while children under age-six will be admitted free.

Fan unable to attend can follow the game on LiveStats or Live Video at the following links:

LiveStats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/misericordia/msoc/xlive.htm

Live Video:  http://mac.ezstream.com/

The game will mark the fourth meeting between the squads over the last two years. A year ago Misericordia won the regular-season meeting 2-1, and then the 2012 conference semi-final 2-0.  This season King's won the regular-season meeting 1-0 with the fourth game in two years to be decided Wednesday.

King's is seeded third in the tournament with a 10-4-4 overall record while standing 4-2-1 in Freedom Conference games. Misericordia, meanwhile, is 13-5 overall and 5-2 in league competition.
Daniel Hernandez
The Monarchs feature a banked line-up with five players scoring 10 or more points. Junior midfielder Niall Croke tops the squad with 15 points on five goals and five assists.  Senior Andrew Tuminello and sophomore Daniel Hernandez both follow with 14 points on six goals and two assists apiece.

Sophomore forward Chris Nygren, who returned to the line-up Saturday against DeSales after missing three games with an injury,also adds 14 points on four goals and six assists Freshman Cameron Rhodes adds 10 points on three goals and four assists.

Defensively, King's has been solid all season long having allowed just 0.95 goals per-game over 18 games. Heading the unit is senior Eric Stanfield, junior Mike Smart,  sophomore Chris Conaty, junior Kevin Hagmeier, freshman Philip Kistner,  and sophomore standout Tyler Harlan who has not played since suffering an injury in the first meeting against Misericordia on October 16.
Eric Stanfield

In goal, King's can count on senior Mark Labbadia who sports a 0.77 goals against average with five shutouts with 29 saves. As a whole, Monarch goalies have been forced to make only 44 saves on the year thanks to the play of the defensive unit.

Misericordia, meanwhile, boasts a roster with both size and experience. The Cougars have 12 players six-foot or taller and 12 other players ranging from 5-foot-10 to 5-foot-11.

The Cougars are paced by Nick Von Egypt who leads the team in scoring with 26 points on 11 goals and four assists. Parker McArdle follows with 10 points on four goals and two assists. Derek Antonini adds eight points on three goals and two assists while David Malaquias has also tallied eight points on   two goals and four assists. In goal, Barry Fitzgerald owns a 0.78 goals against average with 75 saves.

The winners will advance to Saturday's Freedom Conference championship game against the winner of the other semi-final meeting between top-seeded Eastern University and fourth-seeded FDU-Florham at the site of the highest remaining seed.
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