MADISON, NJ (November 2, 2019) --- August Axtman headed in a corner kick from Dylan Ramage 2:18 into the extra period to give the King's College men's soccer team a 1-0 victory at FDU-Florham in the final regular season match on Saturday afternoon from Robert Shields Field in Madison, NJ. The victory clinched a spot in this week's Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom Tournament for the Monarchs.

The first half belonged to the Monarchs (14-4-1, 4-2-1 MAC Freedom) as they controlled possession and had the Devils (6-10-2, 1-5-1) pinned back in their defensive end for a good portion of the half. King's had a great opportunity in the 11th minute to score when Aziz Atiyeh collected a loose ball in the middle of the box off a failed clear of a Monarch corner kick. However, the freshman's shot was scooped up by the Devil keeper for a save. Alastair Dinnan gave KC a lot of opportunities from the wing beating his defenders down the left side and sending in beautiful crosses into the box. Unfortunately for the Dinnan and the Monarchs the FDU-Florham defense kept KC out of the back of the net. Late in the half the Devils started to gain momentum on their home turf as they had two shots in the final 15 minutes just miss the back of the net. First, in the 37th minute Jonathan Rodriguez hit the cross bar on a shot from outside the box. Then a minute later Diego Stanziola hit the right post and back onto the pitch as the Monarch defense cleared the loose ball away.

The teams played nearly even in the second half as King's took 11 shots and the Devils took 10. Only three of the FDU shots went on goal as Connor McKeown made all three saves to keep the match scoreless. In a very physical match Nik Verma and Kyle Shalvey put shots on goal in the second half that were saved. The Devils gave KC another scare in the middle of the half as they had another shot hit the cross bar, followed by a shot that just sailed high of the bar, and then McKeown making a great save on a shot by Billy Farnan. King's had a great opportunity to score in the 83rd minute as the Devils were called for a foul in the box. However, Axtman's penalty kick attempt sailed high of the net keeping the match scoreless. Alex Showalter put two shots on goal in the final six minutes, but each time Parker Malman was able to make the save.

King's came right at the Devils in the extra session earning a corner kick in the 93rd minute. Ramage sent the corner in from the right side to Axtman who headed the ball into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the season and third game-winner.

The Monarchs will be the fourth seed and travel to face top-seeded Stevens Institute in the semifinal on Wednesday at a time to be announced. Eastern University will host Misericordia University in the other semifinal pairing with the winners advancing to Saturday's final at the site of the highest remaining seed.