Box Score The Misericordia University men's soccer team's hopes of a third consecutive Freedom Conference championship came to a sudden halt with a 4-3 penalty kick shootout loss to King's in the Freedom semifinals, Wednesday night at Mangelsdorf Field.
After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, both teams converted their first three penalty kicks before missing on their fourth attempt.
Niall Croke put King's ahead 4-3 and keeper Mark Labbadia came up with a diving save on Misericordia's final shooter to clinch the win.
Misericordia held a 19-17 edge in shots and had a 10-5 edge in corners.
Labbadia made nine saves for King's while
Barry Fitzgerald had six saves for MU.
King's, 11-4-5, will host FDU-Florham in the Freedom title match, Saturday at 7:00 with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Misericordia, 13-5-1, will await a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
Nick vonEgypt gave Misericordia the first serious scoring threat of the match with a header at 10:45, but Labbadia made a diving save.
The Cougars threatened again just five minutes later, but a King's defender cleared vonEgypt's header and
Chris Edkins' rebound from 10 yards out was blocked.
King's first scoring chance came at 25:30 when Chris Nygren fired a shot from 30 yards out just over the crossbar.
The Monarchs threatened at 60:00 when Andrew Tuminello headed a shot of the outside of the left post and Eric Stanfield's rebound went wide left.
At 65:00, Daniel Hernandez grounded a shot from 15 yards out, but MU's
Nick Ferguson cleared it off the line near the right post.
vonEgypt's header off a
Dennis Halpin corner was saved by Labbadia at 97:20 and
Rob Wiacek's header off a long throw in the final minute of the first overtime was stopped as well.
Croke ripped a shot off a re-start from 35 yards out midway through the second OT, but Fitzgerald was there to make the save.
David Malaquias' header off
Kevin Matlon's corner at 115:30 was just wide of the right post and neither team mounted a serious threat the rest of the way.
