Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. - One day after creating its own golden opportunity, the Gettysburg men's soccer team completed its championship quest.

Mike Bruno (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Twp.) and Mike Bevilacqua (Marshfield, MA/Thayer Acad.) scored first-half goals and the Bullets' stingy defense held Western Maryland to four shots as Gettysburg blanked the Green Terror 2-0 and claimed its third Centennial Conference (CC) championship on Saturday night at Homewood Field.

The Bullets (16-4) also earned the CC's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, which begins on Wednesday. The NCAA field will be announced on Sunday night.

Coming off a 2-1 upset of 13th-ranked tournament host Johns Hopkins on Friday, Gettysburg capped its championship run from the tournament's fourth seed by avenging a 1-0 overtime loss at the hands of Western Maryland during the regular season.

The Bullets got on the scoreboard in the 18th minute when Bruno headed in a corner-kick serve from J.W. Havens (Camp Hill, PA/Camp Hill) for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. The assist was Havens' first helper of the campaign.

Ten minutes later, Bevilacqua broke free on Terror goalie Ryan DeFibaugh and fired a shot into the left netting for a 2-0 Gettysburg advantage with 17:24 left in the first half.

The Bullets held Western Maryland without a shot in the first 45 minutes. After the break, Steve Kopp (Upper Montclair, NJ/Montclair) made stops on Vinny Pedalino and Trevor Brown to preserve Gettysburg's ninth shutout of the season.

Bevilacqua and Mike Sarbaugh (Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown), who scored the game-winning goal against Johns Hopkins in the CC semifinals, led the Bullets with three shots apiece.

Gettysburg, which previously won CC titles in 1993 and 1999, will be making its seventh appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Bullets are 3-6 all-time in their previous six NCAA trips, including a run to the national quarterfinals in 1997.
 

Score by Half	1	2	-	F
Gettysburg (16-4)	2	0	-	2
Western Maryland (14-5)	0	0	-	0

Scoring
G - Mike Bruno 8 (J.W. Havens 1), 17:29
G - Mike Bevilacqua (unassisted), 27:36

Shots: G 14, W 4. Corner Kicks: G 9, W 2. Fouls: G 20, W 14. Goalie Saves: G 2 (Steve Kopp), W 2 (Ryan DeFibaugh).

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