WILKES-BARRE, PA (October 26, 2018) – The King's College men's soccer team will play for the first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Regular Season Championship on Saturday when they travel down to St. Davids to take on first-place Eastern University in the regular season finale for both teams. The winner of the match will secure the top seed in next week's MAC Freedom Tournament.
 
Event Details
Opponent: at Eastern University (14-2-1, 6-0-0 MAC Freedom)
Date: Saturday October 27, 2018
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: St. Davids, PA – Olson Field (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Last Time Out: The Monarchs celebrated Senior Night in a big way with a 7-0 victory over Delaware Valley. Alastair Dinnan led the way for the Monarchs with two goals while Zach Wolcott added two assists. King's completely shutdown the Aggies outshooting them 26-0 and held a 15-0 corner kick advantage.
 
Eastern won their ninth-straight match with a 1-0 victory at Penn State Abington on Wednesday. Jacob Myers scored in the 60th minute off a rebounded shot from Billy Walenda. Anthony Hitchcock made two saves to pick up another shutout victory
 
The Book On The Monarchs (10-4-2, 5-1-0 MAC Freedom):

• The Monarchs are playing their best soccer of the year heading into the postseason. King's has recorded shutout victories in their past two matches and four of their five conference wins have been by shutout.
• King's enters the match with the best-ranked defense in the MAC Freedom and 15th in the nation in goals against average. The Monarchs have a GAA of 0.54 while playing the most minutes of any team in the conference. Their .625 shutout percentage is also the best in the conference and 15th in the nation. The Monarch defense is allowing just 7.0 shots per match.
• KC is outscoring the opposition 33-9 this season and are also outshooting them 269-112. King's has only been out-shot once this season and that was in a 2-0 victory at DeSales. The Monarchs have put 46.8% of their shots on goal for 126 total. The team continues to lead the conference and are up to seventh in the nation with 7.38 corner kicks taken per match.
• Defender August Axtman is on a three-match streak of scoring penalty kick goals as the junior captain scored his sixth penalty kick goal of the year, and 10th of his career on Saturday. His seven goals this season are tied for the second most in the MAC Freedom. His three game-winning goals are the also the second most in the conference. He has been named the MAC Freedom Defender of the Week three times this season including this past week while anchoring King's defense.
• Senior keeper Owen Geedey will graduate as King's best-ever goalkeeper and is a big reason why the Monarchs has one of the top defenses in the nation as he has put together the best year of his career. The captain has been honored twice as the MAC Freedom Defensive Player of the Week. He has recorded eight shutouts this season which is the most in the MAC Freedom and 15th in the nation. He is currently the school record holder with 30 career shutouts. His .842 save percentage is 38^th in the nation and 0.55 goals against average is 20th Both are the best in the conference. Geedey has a career GAA of 0.60 which will be a new program record.
• Freshman Quentin Szeker-Cortes sits in a tie for sixth in the conference with five assists. The defender has recorded all his assists off set pieces as he has taken many of the free kicks and corner kicks for the Monarchs.
• Junior forward Aidan DeCamillo is second on the team with 12 points on five goals and two assists this year. DeCamillo is tied for 11th in the conference in points and has recorded a point in four of King's conference wins this year.
• Sophomore Liam McLoughlin and junior Fabio Massa have scored three goals this season while juniors Ryan Romeo and Alastair Dinnan along with and sophomores Sam Pipicelli and Will Brack have scored twice each. McLoughlin has also recorded two assists and is seventh in the conference with 33 shots taken and Massa is sixth with 36.
• King's is 4-7-2 all-time against the Eagles including a 2-3-1 mark in St. Davids. The Monarchs have a history of tight results against Eastern as eight matches have been decided by just a goal and three matches needing overtime. The Monarchs last trip to Eastern resulted in a scoreless draw in the MAC Freedom Semifinal before the Eagles advanced to the Championship on penalty kicks.

The Book On The Eagles (14-2-1, 6-0-0 MAC Freedom):

• Eastern enters Saturday possible MAC Freedom Championship preview on a 13-match unbeaten streak winning the last nine. Their past three matches have been shutouts and they have recorded seven total shutouts in the streak.
• The Eagles have been especially strong on their home turf this season recording a 6-1-1 record on Olson Field. Their lone blemish occurred back on September 8th when William Paterson found the back of the net in overtime for a 2-1 victory. Another overtime loss against Wesleyan the next day was the last time EU has tasted defeat this year.
• Jeremy Payne is in his second season leading the Eagles after winning two National Championships for Messiah College as a midfielder. Payne led the Eagles to a 13-4-2 record last season and suffered the same result as the Monarchs to end the season falling to DeSales in penalty kicks after drawing in the MAC Freedom Championship.
• Eastern's biggest strength this year has been their defense. The Eagles are right behind the Monarchs in the conference rankings conceding 10 goals in 1574:10 minutes. EU is ranked 17th in the nation with a GAA of 0.57 and 29th with a save percentage of .844.
• The Eagles are also scoring this year as the team is averaging 2.35 goals per match, Senior Jacob Myers leads the way with eight goals including five in the past nine matches. Myers leads the conference is goals scored and is 32nd in the nation with four game-winning goals.
• Senior Colin Furlong is ninth in the nation with 10 assists and has also scored three goals. Junior Jake Sankey had added three goals and five assists for 11 points.
• Sophomore Sam Sutherland is third on the team with 13 points on six goals and one assist. Senior Cade Harmon has scored four times and added three assists while classmate Billy Walenda has nine points on three goals and three assists.
• The Eagles have received very strong play in net by sophomore Anthony Hitchcock who leads the conference with a 0.51 goals against average. Hitchcock is 10-0-1 this year in 1052:47 minutes spanning 12 starts including six shutouts. His save percentage of .806 is third in the conference.
• Senior Ben Lochstampfor has also seen action in goal this season recording a 3-2-0 record with a 0.71 GAA and a .871 save percentage with two shutouts in 512:14 minutes of work spanning eight matches.
• The Eagles and Monarchs are locked into the top two seeds in next week's conference tournament and will each host a semifinal matchup on Tuesday. Eastern just needs a win or a draw to clinch the top seed.

Up Next: The Monarchs will host a MAC Freedom Semifinal match on Tuesday against either Misericordia University or Manhattanville College. The Cougars and Valiants are also in action against each other on Saturday to determine seeding.