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Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Eric Hynes (Far Hills, N.J./Pingry School) scored a pair of goals to lead the Gettysburg College men's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over McDaniel College in Centennial Conference play at Clark Field on Saturday.

With its victory, Gettysburg (5-9-2, 4-3-2 CC) captured a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament. The stars started to align on Friday when Franklin & Marshall College defeated Dickinson College 3-0, putting the Bullets and Red Devils in a tie for the fifth and final playoff berth. Gettysburg held the tiebreaker with Dickinson, but it also needed help from conference-leading Swarthmore College, which hosted Haverford College. The Garnet took care of business with a 2-0 win over the Fords, putting the Bullets into the playoffs as the No. 5 seed.

Gettysburg will visit Johns Hopkins University in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at a time to be determined Monday.

Events Saturday did not unfold in a kindly manner for the hosts as McDaniel's (5-12, 2-7 CC) Eddy Lingue spotted the team a 1-0 advantage with a goal in the 14th minute.

The tide turned on the Green Terror with 15 minutes remaining in the first half when a long kick by Gettysburg goalie Connor Darrell (Cream Ridge, N.J./Allentown) made its way into the McDaniel backfield. The ball was headed back to Zach Nibbelink, but a streaking Hynes beat the keeper to it, heading it over his hands and into the cage at 30:42.

The score remained deadlocked heading into the start of the second half, but it didn't stay there long. It was Hynes striking again, fielding a pass out of the backfield, racing past a pair of defenders, one-touching it around Nibbelink, and slotting the ball from the right side into the net 58 seconds into the final stanza. It was the second time Hynes has tallied two goals in a match, the first coming against Misericordia University last fall.

Gettysburg's momentum continued to build with another goal less than six minutes later. A free kick by senior Teddy Smith (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) ricocheted off several defenders to sophomore Craig Heckman (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) who chest-bumped it into the net in the 52nd minute.

Junior Kyle DeBlois (Cranbury, N.J./Princeton) iced the match with another goal in the 63rd minute as a pass from freshman Devin Geiman (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) found its way through the defense to the Bullet junior in front of the goal.

Gettysburg finished with a 22-7 edge in shots as Hynes and junior Teddy McCarthy (Longmeadow, Mass./Loomis Chaffee School (Conn.)) finished with eight and six, respectively.