For Immediate Release · By Nairem Moran · nmoran@smcm.edu

St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior captain Nick Tait (Silver Spring, Md./Sandy Spring Friends) and first-year forward Khalid Balogun (Bowie, Md./Bowie) combined on both goals as the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's soccer team posted a 2-1 victory over York College of Pennsylvania in the regular-season finale. Today's Capital Athletic Conference win locked up a home playoff game for the Seahawks.

St. Mary's finished as the third seed in this year's CAC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament and face York once again as the Spartans claimed the sixth seed following Frostburg State University's 2-1 win over Southern Virginia University tonight. The Seahawks will see York in Seahawk Stadium this Saturday, October 29 at 3:00 p.m.

St. Mary's (Md.) 2, York 1

How It Happened

• It was an early start for St. Mary's as Tait, from near midfield, sent in a long, diagonal pass from left to right to Balogun just outside the box. Balogun corralled the pass, pushed it between two Spartan defenders before finding the back of the net at 3:47.
• The Seahawks continued to push but senior Charlie Johnson (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) came up with four stops to keep it a one-goal game at halftime.
• Tait handed St. Mary's a two-goal advantage in the 59th minute as Balogun repaid the favor, sending a cross to the right side of the box and Tait chipping it over Johnson for his 11th of the season.
• York avoided the shutout in the 86th minute when the Spartans were awarded a penalty kick. Senior forward Matt Freibaum (New Market, Md./Linganore) buried the shot into the lower left corner to cut the deficit in half.
• Freibaum's PK sparked YCP to attack in a flurry but junior Zack Haussler (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) and the Seahawk defense stood their ground to preserve the 2-1 win.

For the Seahawks (12-3-2, 6-2-1 CAC)

• Scorers: Balogun (1 goal, 1 assist); Tait (1 goal, 1 assist).
• Goalkeeper: Haussler (5 saves, 1 goal allowed, 90:00).
• St. Mary's finished the game with 20 shots (10 on goal) and three corner kicks.

For York (7-8-2, 4-4-1 CAC)

• Scorer: Freibaum (1 goal).
• Goalkeepers: Johnson (4 saves, 2 goals allowed, 66:44); Senior Jack Pebole (Little Silver, N.J./Red Bank Regional) (3 saves, 0 goals allowed, 23:16).
• The Spartans fired 15 shots (six on goal) with no corners.

Notes

• Today's victory also marked the first time St. Mary's has beaten York in Seahawk Stadium in 14 meetings (1-13). Overall, the Spartans own a 28-5-2 record in the series history.
• St. Mary's dropped one spot to ninth in this week's South Atlantic region poll.
• With his three-point performance this afternoon, Tait broke the tie for fifth all-time in both career goals and career assists. He now has 33 goals, passing Mark Zettle '92, while tallying 22 assists to pas Nathaniel Graham '06. Tait is also now fourth all-time with nine career game-winning goals.

Up next for the Seahawks

• 10/29 vs. York (Pa.) at 3:00 p.m. (CAC Tournament First Round)

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