By RONALD HANAKI

Sports Editor

West Chester was clearly where Warriors belonged last weekend. In the fifth minute of the championship game, junior midfielder Jo Panuccio scored on a free kick from about 25-yards that curled just under the crossbar and above Gannon senior goalkeeper Jorge Hernandez for the only goal of the game.

Gannon outshot ESU 11-10, but the Warriors held a 5-2 edge over the Golden Knights in corner kicks.

Junior goalkeeper Will Boerema made five saves in goal and was named the Tournament MVP.

It was ESU’s first PSAC championship since 2007 and the twentieth in program history.

Head coach Rob Berkowitz has successfully guided both the women and men’s programs to conference championships in the same season. He and former ESU Head Coach Jerry Sheska are the only two coaches to accomplish that feat in PSAC history.

This has been a banner season for ESU Men’s Soccer. In addition to Panuccio and Boerema, it was announced that senior back Keelby Espinola, junior forward Eddy Enowbi, senior midfielder Christian Bukowski and junior midfielder Brandon Levano were named to All-PSAC teams.

The win gave the Warriors an automatic bid to play in the NCAA Division II Tournament starting today.

On Monday evening, it was announced that the Warriors were the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Region. ESU (14-3-2, 8-3) will play No. 2 West Chester (13-2-2, 11-0) in the second round of the national tournament this Saturday afternoon.

Email Ronald at:

rhanaki@live.esu.edu