GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Behind yet another clutch performance from senior forward Patrick Santini (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) and a stellar showing by the defense, the Gettysburg College men's soccer team downed Dickinson College 2-0 in a key Centennial Conference (CC) matchup Saturday evening at a foggy Clark Field.
 
Santini scored twice inside the final 15 minutes as the Bullets (11-2, 5-1 CC) moved into first place in the Centennial Conference standings. Gettysburg entered the night trailing Johns Hopkins by one point, and the Blue Jays tied Franklin & Marshall 1-1.
 
With his two goals, Santini pushed his conference-leading total to 18 – third on the school's single-season list. He entered the night ranked third in Division III in goals per game.
 
Taking on the conference's leading offense (3.08 gpg), Gettysburg limited Dickinson (9-4-1, 3-2-1 CC) to just four shots on goal. It was the Bullets' seventh shutout of the season – the most by a Gettysburg team since the 2007 squad also posted seven. Senior Max Karen (Huntington, N.Y./Elwood-John Glenn) made three saves en route to his fourth clean sheet of the season.
 
The Bullets also earned their first victory over the Red Devils since 2011; Dickinson was 4-0-1 in the five meetings since.
 
Gettysburg has now posted its best record through 13 games since the 2002 squad was 11-0-2. The team has also registered its highest win total since the 2007 team finished 12-7-1. In addition, the Orange and Blue has won its last six games, marking the club's longest winning streak since the 2007 team also won six straight.
 
The Bullets controlled most of the first half, outshooting Dickinson 8-3. Gettysburg avoided danger in the 20th minute, when Karen deflected a cross before Ward Van de Water had a look at an open net. But his rebound was knocked away by sophomore Ezekiel Omosanya (Lagos, Nigeria/Northfield Mount Hermon [Mass.]) before classmate Bobby Weikert (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) cleared it away.
 
Dickinson keeper John Baney kept the Bullets off the scoreboard when he made two of his five saves for the night in the 41st minute. Santini hauled in a throw-in and rifled a low shot that Baney attempted to smother. The ball popped out to the left post where sophomore Shane McWilliams (Perry Hall, Md./Loyola Blakefield) fired a shot from point-blank range that Baney also covered up.
 
Early in the second half, freshman Sam Lerman (Wayzata, Minn./Field School) nearly put Gettysburg on top, but his blast from the right side smashed off the near post. Karen kept the match the scoreless with a tremendous save in the 56th minute, tipping away a breakaway rip from Dickinson leading scorer Kevin Gilbert.
 
The Bullets outshot Dickinson 7-5 in the second half and finally broke through in the 76th minute. Senior Sakyi Hylton-Dei (Geneva, Switzerland/Mercersburg Academy [Pa.]) took the ball off a corner kick and crossed it to the back post, where Santini headed it in for what held up as his eighth  game-winning goal of the year.
 
Karen made another stop in the 82nd minute before Santini applied the finishing touches. Sophomore Jeff Schaefer (Timonium, Md./Calvert Hall) initiated the goal when he unloaded a shot from the right side that deflected off the crossbar. But Santini was there once again, knocking in a quick header to set the final score.
 
Gettysburg outshot Dickinson 15-8 for the night while Red Devils finished with a 5-3 edge in corner kicks. Both teams were whistled for 13 fouls.
 
The Bullets continue their season on Wednesday, when they host Franklin & Marshall (4-1-1 CC) in another big Centennial Conference affair.