BALITMORE, Md. – The Lafayette College men's soccer team defeated No.2 Loyola in the Patriot League Semifinal game on Tuesday night on penalty kicks, to advance to the Patriot League Tournament Championship.

The Leopards advance to the Patriot League Tournament Championship game for the first time since 2012. They are set to face No.1 Lehigh on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Bethlehem.  

Sophomore Alex Sutton was perfect between the pipes in the win, making seven saves while facing 19 shots through two overtimes en route to his ninth shutout of the season.  

Through 90 minutes of regulation, the game seemed to be in a defensive battle within the first half alone, Loyola (10-7-2) firing off 10 shots and Lafayette (9-6-5) taking none. The second half saw the shot total a little more even, with the Leopards taking six and the Greyhounds taking four. But both goalkeepers were solid between the pipes, making save after save to keep the game tied at 0-0 and force overtime.

Through two overtimes, neither team could find a way past the other side's goalkeeper and after 20 minutes of extra soccer, the game headed into penalty kicks.

The Greyhounds were up first for penalty kicks. They would miss and senior Ryan Goncalves would step up first for the Leopards. He would make it to put them up 1-0. Loyola responded with a made penalty kick of its own before it would be sophomore Sebastian Varela, sophomore Marcos Kitromilides and senior Christian Williams also aimed correctly and get past the Greyhounds goalkeeper. The Greyhounds would get four of their own passed Sutton to tie us up at four each.

Up next for the Leopards was freshman Yiannis Panayides who would fire his shot just a bit high. The Greyhounds would reciprocate the miss, hitting the crossbar, setting it up for junior Martin Ssessanga to win the game for the Leopards.

Ssessanga would easily get the ball past the Greyhounds keeper, giving the Leopards the 5-4 penalty kicks victory over the Greyhounds.