FREDERICK, Md. – The fifth-seeded Arcadia University men's soccer team advanced to the semifinal round of the 2016 MAC Commonwealth Championship Tournament with a 4-3 win on penalty kicks at fourth-seeded Hood College Tuesday. Sophomore Ryan Hammer scored the deciding PK in the fifth and final round for the Knights.
 
MOVING ON: The Knights (9-6-4) advance to Thursday's semifinals with the win, where they will travel to top-seeded Messiah for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Falcons (15-0-3) are ranked second in Division III by D3Soccer.com and fifth by the NSCAA and following an undefeated regular season.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Neither team was able to score through 110 minutes, sending to match to PKs to see who would advance. Arcadia junior keeper Chris Watson and Hood keeper Danny Castillo both recorded a save it the opening round before Hood's Juliano PIllari sent his second round bid over the crossbar. That miss set the stage for junior Bradley McKim, who put the Knights ahead 1-0 with his shot into the upper right corner.
 
The two teams exchanged goals from there, with Joe Benton tying it up at 3-3 to start the fifth and final round. Hammer then stepped up with the match on the line and placed his attempted into the upper right corner to send Arcadia to the next round. Senior Brian Martinez and freshman Shade Foreman also converted their attempts for the Knights.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Hood (11-5-2) controlled the action for the majority of the match, outshooting Arcadia 24-5 with an 11-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 14-2 advantage on corner kicks in regulation. Arcadia had a couple quality chances to win the match in the first overtime as Castillo made a pair of diving stops on bids from Hammer as the Knights had a 3-2 advantage on shots in the period. The Blazers took all five shots in the second OT, and forced Watson to make a critical leaping save in the 108th-minute.
 
PLAYOFF NOTES: This marks the first time Arcadia has advanced in a conference tournament since 2009, when the Knights were 1-0 winners over Elizabethtown in the semifinal round of the MAC Commonwealth tournament. The last time Arcadia advanced on PKs was in the 2007 MAC Freedom semifinals following a scoreless 110 minutes against Wilkes. The Knights are now 2-1 when needing to advance on PKs in their known playoff history.