The Dickinson men's soccer team scored an early goal and held on to defeat Gettysburg College, 1-0, in the opening round of the Centennial Conference Men's Soccer Championship.
Senior Ward Van de Water (Warrenton, Va./Highland) struck just four minutes in, blasting a shot through a crowd to put the Red Devils on the board.
The remainder of the match was up and down the field with both teams creating some strong scoring chances. The Red Devils controlled the run of play for the most part but had to grind the entire match to keep the Bullets off the board.
Dickinson outshot the Bullets, 18-13, and held a slim 6-5 advantage in corners. Gettysburg forced a late corner and Precious Ozoh curved one on net, but junior goaltender Frederick Meagher (Southport, Conn./Fairfield-Ludlowe) came away with a big save to hold the lead.
Dillon Konzelmann made six saves in the net for Gettysburg as they fall to 8-8-1.
Meagher finished with seven saves to secure the shutout as the Red Devils improve to 11-5-2 on the season.
The Red Devils advance to Saturday's semifinal at Haverford College. Dickinson will square off with the hosts at 11:00 am.