Live Stats
Live Video
Live Audio

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The No. 22 ranked Mercyhurst University men's soccer team will travel to Notre Dame (Ohio) for the second round of the NCAA playoffs. The match will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 17 at Notre Dame University.

At the start of the season, the Lakers suffered their first loss against the Falcons after Notre Dame's Tom Owens scored in the 40th minute to give his team a 1-0 win. Despite the loss, Mercyhurst outshot the Falcons 18 to five throughout the entire contest. Notre Dame had only one shot on net that saw its way past goaltender Mikko Sarkkinen. Freshmen Jack Watson and Danny Deakin tallied four shots apiece to lead Mercyhurst.

The Lakers finished off their regular season with a 10-1 conference record and overall record of 14-4-0 to finish first for the second consecutive year in the PSAC. Mercyhurst went 1-1 in the PSAC tournament to capture second place after suffering a 3-2 double overtime loss to Slippery Rock. Throughout the year, Mercyhurst has captured seven shutouts as a team and average a 0.95 goals against average. The Lakers have outshot their opponent on average 19.9 to 9.2 and have collected a .433 shots on goal percentage.

Junior Fernando Martinez, who was recently named PSAC Offensive Player of the Year, leads the team with 13 goals and 14 assists for a career-high 40 points in a season. The midfielder recently tied the all-time record of career assists after adding an assist in the PSAC Championship game. Martinez also is first in Division II in assists this season, and is first in the PSAC.

Freshman Danny Deakin tabbed the PSAC Freshman of the Year honor for his performances leading up to this weekend. Deakin is tied with Martinez is 13 goals to lead the team this year and was the only freshman in the PSAC to earn All-PSAC First team honors after capturing five assists for a total 31 points. He is fourth in the conference in points, third in goals and sixth in game-winning goals (4).

Graduate Student Mikko Sarkkinen has collected most of the playing time in net for Mercyhurst and has a record of 8-4-0 heading into the NCAA tournament. Last season, Sarkkinen went unbeaten (4-1-0) until the semifinal match against eventual national champions Lynn University. He had only made one start prior to the national tournament and made 16 saves throughout the postseason run.

Freshman Nicholas Smith has also had some playing time in net and has posted a 7-1-0 record. Smith collected four straight shutouts in the efforts during the Lakers seven game winning streak this season. Overall smith has made 20 saves and has allowed five goals for 0.61 goals against average and a .800 save percentage.

Notre Dame College (Ohio) also fell short during their conference championship after losing to 1-0 to the University of Charleston in double overtime. Notre Dame competed in the National Athletics Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) before joining the NCAA in 2012. The Falcons made their first even NCAA national tournament during that season.

Adam Mitchell leads the Falcons with 14 goals and one assist this season. He has collected five game-winning goals in the 18 games played. Martin Lange is second on the team with 18 points on seven goals and four assists while Ryan Ware leads the team with six assists and has scored three goals for 12 points.

Goaltender Jan Skorupinski has played in 16 games this season and has collected a 12-1-0 record including a win against the Lakers. He has allowed just 12 goals this season and 45 saves for a 0.76 goals against average, a .789 save percentage and eight shutouts.