Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – A goal by Alex Manea just over 15 minutes into the second half lifted Mercyhurst University to a 2-1 win over Southern New Hampshire University in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship Sunday afternoon at Larkin Field. The Lakers, who won their ninth straight, improve to 17-5-1 and advance to next week's semifinal round in Evans, Ga., where they will face Lynn University, while the Penmen, who saw a seven-game win streak snapped, see their season come to a close at 19-4.
Manea scored with 29:50 to go when he took a cross from the left side from Austin Solomon, dribbled, and snuck a ball inside the near right post for his team-leading 16th goal of the season.
Mercyhurst took a 1-0 lead in the game's 26th minute when Manea and Solomon hooked up for the first time, with Manea playing a little flick up to Solomon, who notched his eighth goal of the season with his shot from 12 yards. Southern New Hampshire tied the game 4:26 before halftime on Chris Tsonis' (Dartmouth, Mass.) 16th goal of the season. Kenny Doublette (Greenwich, Conn.), who had just entered the game moments earlier, dribbled down the right side, lured the defense and played a cross over to Tsonis, who was all alone with Laker goalie Mikko Sarkkinen in close.
The Penmen had two prime chances to take a 2-1 lead on either side of halftime. Two minutes after the Tsonis goal, Miguel Carneiro (New Milford, Conn.) had Sarkkinen beat off a cross, but his attempt rang off the near left post. Mohamed Toufik (Grande Synthe, France) hit the right post with a shot in the 57th minute. Four minutes after the Manea goal, Dominic Samuel (Toronto, Ontario) appeared to have the equalizer following a restart but Sarkkinen made a kick save while on the ground to preserve the lead.
Sarkkinen made five saves, while SNHU keeper Dom DiMaggio (Rome, N.Y.) did not record a stop as the Penmen outshot the Lakers 14-3 on the afternoon. Southern New Hampshire also had seven of the game's nine corner kicks.
Southern New Hampshire was making its third NCAA quarterfinal appearance in four seasons and 10th in program history.
