Brandywine Tops Lehigh Valley 2-0 To Secure Sixth-Straight PSUAC Championship

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine finished off another perfect conference slate by besting No. 3 Penn State Lehigh Valley 2-0 in the championship game of the Penn State University Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, winning its sixth consecutive league title on Wednesday night at Panzer Stadium.

PSUAC Player of the Year and leading scorer Chris Manful (Baltimore, Md./Woodlawn) had a hand in both goals, scoring during the first half, before assisting on Lex Smith's (Centreville, Va./ASU Preparatory Academy) second-half tally.

Brandywine's defense, which blanked a PSUAC opponent for the 11^th time in as many games this fall, limited Lehigh Valley to one shot on goal, which was turned aside by goalkeeper Elijah DeBooth (West Lawn, Pa./Wilson).

Lehigh Valley's top scoring chance came during the 71^st minute when it was awarded a penalty kick following a Brandywine foul in the box; however, the penalty kick was ripped well high of the cage.

Manful managed to break free after Lehigh Valley blocked a Brandywine shot as he collected the deflected ball and found the back of the net for the 34^th time this season. His goal came just under 10 minutes into the game and the Lions held that same one-goal lead for the next 40 minutes.

Smith, Brandywine's second-leading scorer, was on the receiving end of Manful's crossing feed and he blasted a shot from the far post to double the margin to 2-0 at the 50:21 mark.

Brandywine held Lehigh Valley without a shot the rest of the way as the Lions claimed a sixth-straight PSUAC title and extended their unbeaten streak against conference opponents to 76 consecutive matches.

Brandywine (19-0-2) will now set its sights on defending its national championship next week at the USCAA Tournament. The Lions, the tournament's No. 1 seed, will face fifth-seeded Five Towns College in a rematch of last year's national title game on Friday, November 10 in Virginia Beach, Va.