Brandywine Rally Stuns Salem; Lions Win Home Tournament

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine overcame a two-goal deficit during the final 17 minutes to tie the score and claimed its home tournament championship after goalkeeper Elijah DeBooth (Reading, Pa./Wilson) stopped two penalty kicks, taking the PK portion 4-1 against Salem University on Sunday afternoon.

Brandywine trailed 2-0 at the half, but controlled the pace of the match for much of the final 45 minutes as the Lions battled to even the count.

Alexis Cordova Bernal (Oxford, Pa./Avon Grove) scored the Lions' first goal on a penalty kick during the 64th minute, but Salem quickly went back up by two with a penalty kick of its own less than eight minutes later.

Brandywine again trimmed the margin to one when Cordova Bernal found Raymond Kelly (Middletown, Del./Middletown) off a corner kick and Kelly tapped in his first goal of the year.

Just 86 seconds later, Brandywine found the equalizer as Lex Smith's (Centreville, Va./Casa Grande) shot was blocked, but he touched the rebound to Mateo Loyo (Portchester, N.Y./Iona Preparatory), who drove home the game-tying goal.

Each netminder needed to make one save during the final 10 minutes to send the championship match to a penalty kick shootout.

After Christian Zavala (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) was successful on the first kick, DeBooth dove to his left to turn away Salem's Aidan Mahoney. Smith gave the Lions a 2-0 edge and DeBooth again made a sliding save on his left side to keep the Tigers off the board. Cordova Bernal deposited Brandywine's third attempt and Salem followed with a tally before Khafren Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Science Leadership Academy) secured the title with a drive under the crossbar.

DeBooth stopped seven shots and saw his record move to 2-0-1, while Ruben Pjilman blocked eight for Salem.

Brandywine outshot the NCAA Division II Tigers 18-11, including an 11-2 mark during the final 45 minutes.

Brandywine (2-0-1) will look to remain unbeaten Tuesday when it faces Immaculata at 4:00 PM.