The AU men's soccer team shut out Army, 3-0, on what was an oh-so-sweet Senior Day as AU clinched home field advantage for next weekend's PL tournament.
The Eagles beat out Lafayette for the top spot on a head-to-head tiebreaker. Both teams were 5-2 in the PL, but AU defeated Lafayette earlier in the season, 2-1, in double overtime.
After beginning the PL season 2-2, any postseason play is more than welcome to a squad who not long ago thought they might be clearing out their lockers after Saturday's match.
"Right now it's a relief to win, knowing that we get to play the tournament here next week," said AU head coach Todd West.
The Eagles are 17-3 in home games over the past two seasons, making the possibility of an NCAA birth for a team that's 6-9-1 overall very real, despite their consistent road struggles.
Saturday, the only struggle for AU was to stay on its feet.
The Eagles controlled the pace from the start, but the Black Knights responded with questionable physical play that left AU coaches fuming and the AU trainer busy. Freshman John Jarvie suffered for it, forced to leave the game in the first half with a leg injury.
"The referee that lets dirty things go favors the lesser team,"
West said. "But at the end of the day we have another game, and they don't."
In the 41st minute, AU got its revenge. Junior midfielder Sal Caccavale eluded several Army defenders with some deft juking and dribbling.
Unable to legally stop Caccavale, the Black Knights brought down the attacker outside the penalty area.
That set up Junior Garth Juckem for a free kick he drilled over the Army wall, beating junior goalkeeper Stephen Kraheck to the near post.
"I've been working on my free kicks," Juckem said. "Yesterday I started a new approach to the ball because I watch a lot of soccer trying to emulate the great players, and it paid off."
After Juckem's individual effort put AU ahead, solid team play drove the Eagles to a 3-0 rout.
"We played not to lose in the first half, but cleaned things up at halftime and were very good," West said. "If we can play the way we did in the second half for a full game we have a great chance to win [the PL Tournament]."
Juckem scored again for AU in the 61st minute, assisted by junior Larry Mark and senior Coco Del Rio. Mark added a goal in the 75th minute when he slipped behind the defense and eased the ball into the left corner of the net past the sprawling 'keeper.
From there, the Eagles substituted starters out of the game.
Before the game, fans watched AU seniors Gordon Templeman and Del Rio be honored in a midfield celebration of their careers, joined by embracing family members. After the game, Del Rio talked about the being one of two seniors on a youthful squad.
"We've got a young team, but they will carry it on [winning]," Del
Rio said. "We were rusty at the start of the season, which happens with younger teams, but now we are picking it up and these guys are getting the experience."
The Eagles will host Colgate in the semifinals of the PL Tournament Friday. Southeast Pennsylvania rivals Lehigh and Lafayette will face each other in the other semifinal.
