Seton Hill hosted Pitt-Johnstown Saturday in their final regular season match of the season and after recognizing their seniors prior to the match, a largely reserve Griffin squad battled to a 1-1 tie with the Mountain Cats.
The draw gives Seton Hill a record of 9-7-2 overall and 6-3-1 in the PSAC West. The 19 points put the Griffins in third place in the West and means they will travel to #2 seed Gannon (23 points) on Tuesday for a PSAC Tournament Quarterfinal match Tuesday night. Mercyhurst is the top seed in the West with 23 points and the tiebreaker over Gannon, which means the Lakers will host the Tournament semifinals and finals next weekend.
In Saturday's regular season finale, UPJ had more shots in the opening half, but it was Seton Hill who struck first. A Griffin corner kick sailed into the box and UPJ's keeper tried to clear it out, but it ended up at the feet of
Jakob Sabatula, who scored his first goal of the season at the 39:29 mark. The lead was short-lived however, as the Cats took the ensuing kickoff, played it into the box and a SHU foul led to a PK, which Pitt-Johnstown converted to tie the game at 1-1 just 19 seconds after the Griffin goal.
The second half was controlled throughout by Seton Hill, who generated 17 shots in the half, but just couldn't find the go-ahead score. Among the best chances was a
Cai Pritchard shot that caromed off the cross bar in the 58th minute. Without another goal, the match carried into overtime. Despite continuous pressure from the Griffins, who finished the match with a 28-16 margin in shots, they were unable to get another score and the teams settled for a draw.
In all, 24 players played in the match for Seton Hill, including a pair of seniors who saw time in net for the Griffins.
Bobby White started and played the first half, making a pair of saves. Coming on in the second half and playing both OTs was
Nicolas Lancaster, who stopped one shot in 65 minutes of action.
With the regular season concluded, the Griffins turn their attention to the PSAC Tournament. The quarterfinal match at Gannon is tentatively scheduled for a 1 pm start in Erie Tuesday. The Golden Knights won both match-ups with Seton Hill in the regular season by the narrowest of margins, winning 2-1 in OT at SHU Oct. 13 and then pulling out a 1-0 victory on their home field Oct. 30. However, the last time the teams faced in the PSAC Tournament was in 2018 and Seton Hill went on the road and advanced in PKs over Gannon in the quarterfinal round.
