BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University men's soccer team made its fifth-ever appearance in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship Saturday at Steph Pettit Stadium, and the Huskies went to-to-toe with the No. 2 nationally ranked Mercyhurst Lakers as both teams finished with nearly identical statistics in most major categories. 
 
A goal by Mercyhurst's Jorge Tallada Torres in the 11^th minute, however, turned out to be the difference on the stat sheet as his score was the lone goal of the contest and lifted the Lakers to a 1-0 win over Bloomsburg for a PSAC title.  
 
With the win, Mercyhurst (19-0-1, 10-0-0 PSAC West) earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Bloomsburg (14-5-1, 8-3-1 PSAC East) still has a chance to continue its historic season with an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The at-large bids will be decided Monday during the NCAA's selection show, which begins at 6:30 PM.
 
The Huskies started off hot and were able to attempt the game's first four shots within eight minutes of the opening kickoff. Two of the shot attempts were saved by Mercyhurst goalkeeper Jonathan Gomes, who was named Tournament MVP following the game, and the other two went just wide.
 
The Lakers offense then responded by taking the game's next three shot attempts, and the third went on to be Torres' game-winning header in the 11^th minute. Torres scored on a possession that began with a corner kick, but it would be a pair of touches that led to the sophomore forward scoring his fifth goal of the year. After the initial corner kick was cleared out of the box by Bloomsburg, Dylan Sumner sent the ball back into the box and his pass was flicked towards the far post by Ben Friedlander. Friedlander's pass found the open Torres near the far post for the score. 
 
Bloomsburg would not waste any time trying to find the equalizer as a couple of clean passes on the ensuing possession led to Braden Alicea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) receiving the ball with room to work near the sideline in the attacking end of the field. The freshman delivered a ball towards the net, but the cross went wide and just missed a running Alex Wilsterman (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) in the box. 
 
The Huskies would have another close scoring opportunity 20 minutes later during a free kick. Senior defender Stephen Hollis (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) took the free kick from midfield and delivered a high-arching pass into the box that found a leaping Kody Besser (Lacey Township, N.J./Lacey Township). Besser had a clean header for a shot on goal, but it was saved and corralled by Gomes, who finished with eight saves on the day. 
 
Junior forward Sammy Ames (Holly Ridge, N.C./Dixon) had the team's final shot attempt of the half with three minutes left, and it was a clean look from just outside the side of the box. The shot, however, went wide as he tried to sneak it into the net near the far post. 
 
On the next possession, Mercyhurst had two chances score in the closing minutes of the half. A shot attempt by Sean Kerrigan with 1:58 left initially looked like a sure score, but Alicea was on the front line of the goal and cleared the ball out of the net with a header. The Lakers then had a free kick from just outside the side of the box with 15 seconds left in the opening half, but the direct kick was saved by Bloomsburg goalkeeper Brady Rimple (Cherryville, Pa./Northampton Area). 
 
Rimple finished the contest with a total of seven saves and had a great effort in net along with Bloomsburg's back line to hold the No. 2 team in the country to one goal on 20 shot attempts.
 
Rimple's day picked up even more in the second half though as 13 of the Lakers' 20 shots came in the final frame. Mercyhurst's offense came out firing in the second half and attempted seven shots within the first 12 minutes of play. Rimple saved three of those, and the other four were off target. 
 
Also during that stretch, Bloomsburg would have its closest scoring attempt of the day. After a throw in during the 49^th minute, Alicea found himself with the ball just inside the attacking end of the field and delivered a ball towards the goal that came inches away from tying the game up at 1-1. Alicea's kick sailed over Gomes and nearly dropped into an open net, but the ball ricocheted off the bottom-half of the goal's crossbar. Shay Gillen (Archbald, Pa./Valley View) possessed the ball after the ricochet and headed the ball back towards an open net, but it was blocked and cleared by Mercyhurst's back line.
 
Bloomsburg would go on to take eight more shots in the final half, and the final two nearly knotted the game up in the closing minutes. During a throw in with under two minutes to play, Hollis tossed a ball into the box that was headed cleanly by Wilsterman, but a quick reaction by Gomes sent the ball over the net for his eighth save of the day. 
 
Later on during the same possession, Gillen attempted an open shot from just outside the box with 20 seconds left, but it sailed high and would be the team's final scoring opportunity.
 
Gillen finished the game with two shots, and Ames led the team with a total of four shots. Olly Whitham (Clitheroe, Lancashire, England/Settle College) and Besser had two shots on goal, and fellow teammate Patrick Walsh (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) had a shot on goal. 
 
Meryhurst held the advantage in corner kicks, 6-3. The Lakers outshot the Huskies by a narrow margin of 20-17. Both teams had eight shots on goal. 
 
The highly competitive game saw 40 fouls committed, and they were just about evenly distributed. Bloomsburg recorded 21 fouls while Mercyhurst had 19. 
 
The PSAC runner-up finish is the program's fifth in school history and the team's first since 2014. The postseason appearance was also Bloomsburg's first since 2015. 
 
The Huskies remain tied for the most wins in program history with 14. Bloomsburg will learn if it has a chance to earn its 15^th victory of the year during the selection show on Monday.