Hearts are breaking across the SNHU community as No.5 Le Moyne College stunned the Southern New Hampshire Penmen in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship quarter-finals on October 31 at Larkin Field.
The Penmen and the Le Moyne Dolphins remained scoreless throughout the match, but four unanswered penalty kicks off the feet of the Dolphins forced them to advance to Friday’s semi-finals.
In the shootout, the Penmen called on redshirt-senior Robert Smith (Peabody, Massachusetts) to man the net. This was Smith’s first time in net, as junior starter Daniel Milton (Ajax, Ontario) had dominated the net in all 17 games of the season. Throughout Tuesday’s game, Milton stopped all six shots he faced.
The shootout saw Smith unsuccessfully dive for shots from the Dolphins. Smith could not capture any of the shots, allowing the Dolphins to earn a 4-2 win in penalty kicks. They went four-for-four, while junior Olafur Einarsson (Esafjordur, Iceland) and freshman Tom Marriot (Nottingham, England) captured goals for the Penmen. Le Moyne goalkeeper Ben Beaury went 11-for-11 on save opportunities.
Southern New Hampshire sees its season end in the quarterfinal round for the second straight year, following a run of four straight league titles. Had it pulled out a victory, SNHU would have hosted eighth-seeded Bentley University, who pulled off a 2-1 upset win against top-seeded Adelphi University on Tuesday, in the semifinal round Friday.
