With a 10-1-7 overall season entering the playoffs, this year’s Pennsylvania College of Technology women’s soccer team already has established itself as one of the program’s best ever, and as the third seed in the United East Volt Division, the Wildcats will host sixth-seeded Penn State Abington at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Penn State Berks, with a win over Penn State Harrisburg on Tuesday, nailed down the Volt Division’s top seed while Harrisburg is seeded second. Lancaster Bible College earned the third seed and St. Mary’s (Md.) College is seeded fourth. Berks and Harrisburg drew first-round byes and will host semifinal games next Tuesday.
Last season, the Wildcats reached the conference’s Final Four before losing to Penn State Harrisburg, 3-2.
In conference matches this season, Penn College is 2-1-2 against other playoff teams with 0-0 ties against Berks and St. Mary’s, a 1-0 loss to Harrisburg, a 3-1 win over Lancaster Bible and a 6-2 win over Abington. The Wildcats have outscored their UE opponents 9-4.
“This season has been one of incredible excitement for our team and program as a whole,” second-year coach Ian Scheller said. “To end any regular season with just one loss is a great achievement because being a team that can consistently compete on any given day might be the most important thing for any program.
“We also really wanted to hit double-digit wins against a schedule that consisted of 13 postseason qualifiers and two regionally ranked teams. We challenged ourselves with our competition and it paid dividends for us in the end. We put ourselves in a position to host a playoff game.
“We have given up 25 fewer goals than last season, also managing to keep eight shutouts, which was a big talking point for the team when setting our preseason expectations. We also had a number of personal milestones: Cassie Johnson, of Richland, breaking the career assist record; Kaelynn Sheetz, of Elizabethtown, setting the career goals record and also breaking her record for goals in a season.
“Looking at the United East this year, it is exciting to see the balance in the conference. Every team in the playoff hunt has the ability to win on any given day, and that has shown in the results.
“Harrisburg was the only team to defeat us this season. It is a top-two team in the conference and must be respected.
“Berks is consistent, as it always is a team that needs to be considered favorites to win the entire thing.
“St. Mary’s showed a lot of ability in its game against us, following that up with a win over Berks, and can definitely do a few things to worry any team in playoffs.
“Lancaster Bible is ruthless going forward and is a team that could turn a two-goal deficit into a 2-2 tie very quickly.
“Abington is a team that had lower roster numbers this season but works very hard and will make the job for any team it plays very difficult.
“Although each team provides us with a very different challenge, we believe that on any day, we have the talent to compete and we’ve shown that time and time again this season. The most important thing for any team in playoffs is making sure the mentality is right on match day to give you the best chance to progress.
“I feel very proud about the season we put together this year. To play an 18-game season and only lose one is something that is incredibly hard to do. The team has worked very hard and has put forward the effort deserving of being regarded as one of the best teams in program history.
“We picked up a historic draw against Berks after being the first Penn College women’s soccer team to ever score against them last season, broke goal-scoring records and tied the program’s most shutouts in a season in the NCAA era since 2014.
“The team has done it in every phase of the game and collected 37 points over the course of an 18-game season, which would be a program high (three points for a win and one for a draw.) The talent on this team, along with the buy-in to our coaching style, has been nothing short of brilliant.”
Included in its record to date are a program single-season high seven ties, which Scheller addressed as shootouts will decide the outcome of matches throughout the playoffs.
“With a change of the overtime rule in NCAA, we’ve found ourselves in a lot more even matches that end in draws. Some people look at draws as a bad thing, whereas I have looked at it as an opportunity to learn without losing,” the coach said, adding, “Since our opening three games when we were still learning a lot, we have gone 10-1-4, with draws against regionally ranked Berks and Atlantic East’s top-seeded Marymount. It also shows that we are a team that is very tough to beat.
“When you’re in postseason play, being a team that’s hard to beat can be your biggest asset. Playing in a lot of these tight games for 90 minutes on so many occasions has shown us that we are a team that can stick with the best of them and has hopefully prepared us for playing in tense situations that come with a playoff format.
“Shootouts are as unpredictable as it gets, but we have as good of a chance as anyone else.”
Final UE Volt Division standings: Penn State Berks, 4-1-1 (13 points); Penn State Harrisburg, 4-1-1 (13); Penn College, 3-1-2 (11); Lancaster Bible College, 3-2-1 (10); St. Mary’s (Md.), 3-2-1 (10); Penn State Abington, 1-5 (3); Gallaudet University, 0-6 (0).
(NOTE: Win=3 points, Tie=1 point).
Final UE Skye Division standings: Bryn Athyn, 8-0-1 (25); Wilson College, 7-1 (24); Cairn University, 5-2-2 (17); Rosemont College, 5-2-2 (17); Cedar Crest College, 4-1-4 (16); Notre Dame (Md.), 4-5 (12).
Record/Schedule/Results/Series History
Overall: 10-1-7
UE: 3-1-2
Saturday, Oct. 28 – Volt Division first round, Penn College (3) hosts Penn State Abington (6) (Penn College leads series 6-3-1), 2 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 28 – Volt Division first round, Lancaster Bible College (4) hosts St. Mary’s (Md.) College (5) (St. Mary’s leads series 2-1), TBA
Tuesday, Oct. 31 – Volt Division semifinals (low seed at Penn State Berks, high seed at Penn State Harrisburg), TBA
Thursday, Nov. 2 – Volt Division final, TBA
Sunday, Nov. 5 – UE Championship, TBA
For more about the United East, visit the conference website .
For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website .
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