The Pioneer Trail: Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014
Men's Soccer vs. Dowling - 1:30 p.m.The LIU Post men's soccer team enters postseason play as the No. 2 seed in the ECC rankings. In order to advance to Saturday's final, they have to take down Dowling today at Pioneer Soccer Park.
The two teams locked horns earlier this season, with the Pioneers grabbing a 2-1 victory over their opponents on Oct. 14. The Pioneers struck first in that contest on a goal by junior forward
Alfred Lindberg (Grabo, Sweden), but Dowling equalized on a strike by senior midfielder Jose Herrera (Sterling, Va.). The green and gold would look to an unlikely hero, as junior midfielder
Alex Billington (Preston, England) headed home the game-winner off of a perfectly placed corner kick from
Matias Ruiz (Southampton, N.Y.) in the 69th minute.
Both squads have been unstoppable since their prior meeting. LIU Post (13-3-1, 8-1-1 ECC) comes into the contest sporting a nine-game winning streak and have been unbeaten in 10 straight matches, outscoring opponents in that stretch, 25-7. That includes a 5-0 walloping of Daemen in their regular-season finale on Sunday (Nov. 2). Meanwhile, Dowling (10-5-2, 7-3 ECC) has not lost in its last five contests (4-0-1), winning its last game in overtime against UDC by a 2-1 scoreline on Saturday (Nov. 1). The win knocked the Firebirds out of the ECC playoff chase.
Leading the Pioneers is senior forward
Eivind Austboe (Stavanger, Norway), whose 15 goals represent nearly one-third of the team's 46 goals this season. The Preseason Player of the Year in the conference has a team-best 32 points, while graduate forward
Dale McDonald (Roosevelt, N.Y.) has scored nine goals and added four assists. Junior goalkeeper
Jesper Malmstrom (Linkopping, Sweden) sports a 12-2-1 record in net for the green and gold with a 0.89 goals-against average and six shutouts.
Dowling is paced by junior forward Mike Gronenthal (Levittown, N.Y.), who has a team-high eight goals. Herrera has seven goals and freshman midfielder Philip Svensson (Falkenberg, Sweden) leads the Golden Lions with nine assists.