Huskies Face Longwood in ASC Semifinals

#2-seeded Longwood hosts #3-seeded HBU

Junior Duke Ogega (photo by Anthony Vasser)

HOUSTON – The road to an Atlantic Soccer Conference championship for the HBU men’s soccer team begins with a difficult task of playing host Longwood on Friday at 5 pm CST.

This is a rematch of last year’s semifinal in which Longwood advanced to the title game in a shootout after battling the Huskies to a 1-1 double-overtime stalemate in front of its home fans.

This year, Longwood suffered its first home loss in five matches, as the Lancers closed the regular season with a 3-1 loss to Clemson on November 3. The Huskies, on the other hand, haven’t played since a 1-0 loss at Longwood on November 1.

HBU (6-10-0, 2-2-0 ASC) is led in scoring by junior Duke Ogega with five points. Ogega is the leader, or at the top, of all statistical categories this season, as he is tied for the team lead in goals (2), assists (2), while tops on the team in shots (23) and game-winning goals (2). He is also second on the team in shots on goal (8). Tied with Ogega in goals is freshman Francisco Diaz, while sophomore Adam Jakle is tied in the assists column.

Senior Michael Bouchahine has seen the majority of time in goal for the Huskies and boasts a 5-4-0 record, a goals-against average of 1.27, a save percentage of .733 and two shutouts. He was named ASC Goalkeeper of the Week twice this season. Backing him up is junior Chris Dodd, who has accumulated a record of 1-6-0, a goals-against average of 1.67, a save percentage of .645 and one shutout.

Longwood (5-11-2, 2-2-0 ASC) is led in both goals (6) and points (14) by Harvey Headley. He also leads the team in shots (36) and shots on goal (13). Brian Germain, who assisted on the game winner against the Huskies earlier this year, leads the team with three assists and is second on the team in goals (3) and points (9). Chris Saul, who scored the lone goal against HBU, leads the team with two game-winning goals.

Joel Helmick has played the majority of the time between the pipes for the Lancers, earning a 5-9-2 record, a goals-against average 1.70, a save percentage of .645 and three shutouts. He earned ASC Goalkeeper of the Week honors once this season.

The tournament schedule (all times CST):

Thursday, 11/12: #4 Howard vs. #5 NJIT – 2 pm
Friday, 11/13: #1 Adelphi vs. #4/#5 winner – 2 pm; #2 Longwood vs. #3 HBU – 5 pm
Sunday, 11/15: Two semifinal winners – 11 am