LANGHORNE Pa. – The Cairn University men's soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw in the final game of their regular season schedule at home against defending Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Champion Rosemont College on Saturday evening. The tie sets up a home playoff game for the Highlanders next week, their first home playoff game since 2019 and their fifth-straight conference playoff appearance.
"We're excited for the opportunity to play in November." remarked Head Coach
Luke Gibson.
"It's something we don't take for granted. Our guys have battled this year and tonight was no exception."
Cairn (8-5-5, 4-0-3 CSAC) wasted no time in their highly-anticipated conference championship rematch with Rosemont (8-2-5, 5-0-2 CSAC), generating a corner kick opportunity in the third minute of the contest. Sophomore
Moses Beers (Lancaster, PA / Manheim Township) took the corner and lobbed in to the upper, right-hand portion of the woodwork. The ball deflected off the keeper and found the back of the net, giving Cairn an early 1-0 lead. The Highlanders maintained that 1-0 lead into intermission. In the 51
st minute, Rosemont delivered the tying goal after an attempted clear by the Highlanders ricocheted off a Raven midfielder to an awaiting forward inside the box, who buried the goal to knot the contest up at one a-piece. Both teams generated opportunities to break the tie near the end of the match, including three shots on goal by the Highlanders in the final 15 minutes. However, neither team managed to break through, and the bout ended in a 1-1 draw.
Rosemont out shot Cairn in the contest (18-12) and both programs matched one another in shots on goal (6-6). Cairn generated nine corner kick chances opposed to Rosemont's five. Fifth-year net minder
Kameron Clark (Ewing, NJ / Ewing) collected five saves in a complete game effort.
Saturday's draw seals the No. 2 seed for the Highlanders in next week's CSAC Championship Tournament. The Highlanders will welcome No. 3 seed Keystone College to Langhorne on Thursday, November 3 in a CSAC Semifinal rematch with a berth to the conference championship game on the line. Game time is TBA.
