Charleston, W.Va. – With the Adelphi University men's soccer team bidding for a second straight NCAA Division II East Region title in a rematch of last season's third round tilt, it was the top-seeded LIU Post Pioneers who flipped the script on the second-seeded Panthers and advanced to the national quarterfinals, 3-0, on Thursday night at Schoenbaum Field at Coonskin Park, the home field of the Charleston (W.Va.) Golden Eagles.

Adelphi (14-3-2) sees the 17^th NCAA bid in program history end in the third round, while the Pioneers advance to face Charleston at 1 p.m. on Saturday with a spot in the national semifinals in Kansas City at stake.

LIU Post (18-0-2) used two first-half goals to steady its way to victory, navigating through the second 45 minutes and adding an insurance goal as Adelphi amped up tempo with its season on the line.

The Green and Gold set the tone in the early action, storming towards the Adelphi net in the sixth minute and forcing Raymond Leto off his line.

However, the Pioneers were unable to take advantage of the open net, thanks in part to some staunch defensive work by the Adelphi backline anchored by Guillermo Lazcano.

Nonetheless, the top seeds broke through for the first time in the 23rd minute, as Charlie Ledula rocketed a shot midway up the box over Leto in the upper left corner to make it 1-0, and Harry Pearse followed with a nearly-identical strike just over four minutes later to double the lead off of an assist by Vittorio Argeri.

The insurance goal for the Pioneers came in the 66^th minute, as the Pioneers' leading scorer Lukas Ostermann finished at the near post for his 18^th score of the season.

Adelphi's offense sputtered in regulation, unable to finish several second-half opportunities which missed just wide or high of the goal. After taking just two shots in the first half, both of which were saved by LIU Post keeper Oliver Hessner Hansen, the Panthers concluded the contest with 11 total but were unable to break through.

With under 10 minutes to play in the game, Toni Soler rocketed a ball towards the left post which was turned aside by Hessner Hansen and Joseph Sanchez's blasted effort rung off the crossbar just 28 seconds later.

Thursday night's contest marked the final game in Brown and Gold for 11 seniors: De Giorgi, Soler, Sanchez, Lazcano, Federico De Oliveira, Quentin Sathasivam, Florent Girardin, Alex Varkatzas, John Stojcevski, Carlos Iparraguirre and Matt Giaconelli.

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About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.

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