Box Score

Millersville, Pa. — A steady rain and a temperature in the low 40s were not enough to keep the third-ranked Millersville men's soccer team from rolling to its eighth straight victory. The Marauders got two first half goals and held on late to down West Chester, 2-1, in a PSAC Eastern Division contest at Chryst Field on Friday evening.

Playing without the services of leading-scorer Kyle Loughlin, Millersville (13-1, 7-0 PSAC East) turned to Aaron Roland to help out with the scoring. Roland headed in his fifth goal of the season, off a kick from Adam Keller at 5:42. The sophomore from Fleetwood has now picked up a goal in each of his last two games.

The Marauders would increase their lead to 2-0 in the 23rd minute. Fellow sophomore Pat Baffuto put a Steve Melnick rebound past WCU keeper Garrett Bleiler for his first goal in nine games.

West Chester (3-8-2, 1-4-2 PSAC East) foiled Millersville's bid at a school-record 11th shutout in one season. After a Golden Ram was taken down in the box, senior defender Zach Weaver beat Matt Langione on the penalty kick at 34:20 to cut the WCU deficit in half.

Millersville was dealt a blow when defender Jeremy Yoder was ejected five minutes into the second half. Yoder picked up a yellow card for a hard foul at 50:11 and picked up the red on another hard foul 31 seconds later.

Down a man for the rest of the game, the Marauder defense and Langione, stood tall. West Chester's offense started to generate chances with the man advantage, coming within inches of tying the game. With just 20 minutes left, the Golden Rams' Josh Labik hit the post and the rebound was immediately shot by Ryan Dicce, but Langione came up with his biggest save of the game.

A total team commitment to defense paid off as Millersville was able to prevail on Senior Night. Melnick, Anthony Pagnotti, and Thomas Bargmann were all playing their final regular season home game as Marauders.

Despite not breaking the record for shutouts in a single season, the Marauders did win their 17th straight PSAC East game. Langione picked up his 40th career win in net and MU outshot West Chester 15-8.

The Marauders now take to the road for the final three games of the 2009 regular season. The first of those three contests is against non-conference opponent Shepherd. MU will be in Shepherdstown, W.Va., next Wednesday for a 4 p.m. start.