Widener for the fifth straight year is headed to the Middle Atlantic Conference final, only this time facing a different opponent than it is used to.
The third-seeded Pride (10-8, 7-3 MAC) will visit No. 1 seed FDU-Florham (12-4, 9-1) for the league crown and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Game time in Madison, NJ is 1:00 pm.
Widener is 17-2 in this tournament with four straight titles, all against Messiah, and 11 overall. The Pride are 9-0 in the MAC final with no championship game held for their first two titles. The last two championships have come after winning their semifinal and final games on the road.
The Pride’s defense has played a major role, posting a 7.03 goals against average as a team with sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Carney (Ridley, PA) owning a 7.26 mark. Junior Dave Simcox (Ridley, PA) is a solid contributor with 56 ground balls to pace the defense and junior Nick Politarhos (Ridley, PA) leads the team with 34 caused turnovers.
Freshman Johnny Casey (Glenside, PA) is fourth in the league with 39 goals, junior Cory Malampy (Ridley, PA) is second on the team with 27 and senior Justin Upp (Camden, DE) is third with 24.
Also a key for the pride is freshman Nick Fluharty (West Grove, PA), who has won 57 percent (171-for-301) of his face-offs and has a team-best 106 ground balls.
Widener opened tournament play Monday with a 10-7 home win vs. No. 6 seed Eastern thanks to Malampy’s four goals. The Pride rolled to an 15-9 semifinal triumph Wednesday at second-seeded Lycoming as Upp netted a career-high five goals.
Thanks to Widener opening an 11-2 lead in the second quarter Wednesday, the team won its fourth straight game and 10th in its last 14 outings.
Widener’s last loss in this tournament was at the hands of FDU-Florham, a 20-10 semifinal defeat on May 5, 2004.