11/2/26
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The regular season has one game remaining, and the Lackawanna College men's soccer team is hoping to use its final tussle to impress the committee and give the Falcons a shot at the postseason. Standing in the way of that goal is Bryant & Stratton College-Syracuse, who will visit Lackawanna on Monday, November 2^nd, at 3:30pm ET at Schautz Stadium in Dunmore.
 
Game Details
Who: Bryant and Stratton College-Syracuse Bobcats (12-2-2) at Lackawanna College Falcons (2-9-6)
When: Monday, November 2^nd, 3:30pm ET
Where: Schautz Stadium; Dunmore, PA
 
Video | Live Stats |Tickets
 
Video Coverage: PSAC Sports Digital Network 
Fans who cannot attend in-person can watch live via the Lackawanna College Athletics Network or on the PSAC Sports Digital Network. 
 
Live stats: https://lackawannafalcons.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary 
Live stats coverage is available and will be updated as the game goes on.
 
Tickets: https://lackawannafalcons.com/tickets
Fans can purchase their game tickets in advance, or via cashless methods in person. There is no cash option for Lackawanna College Athletics tickets.
 
The Falcons 
Lackawanna (2-9-6) finished its PSAC schedule on October 24^th at Millersville, then played one contest last week, which was a home event against USCAA Division II Central Penn College last Wednesday. Lackawanna College dominated against the Knights, posting 30 shots, 18 on target, and getting five different goal-scorers on the board for a 5-0 win on Senior Day. Lackawanna scored a pair of goals in a four-minute span in the first half, scoring the 34^th and 38^th minutes, then expanded the lead with goals in the 72^nd, 78^th, and 88^th minutes to pull away. You can read the full recap HERE.
   
On the season, the Falcons have given up 31 goals, a 1.82 goals per game average, while scoring eleven goals this season. Lackawanna has 167 shots, 81 on target (.485 SOG), while the opponents have posted 234 shots, 85 on target (.363 SOG). The Falcons have 63 corner kicks, while their opponents have 93 corners this year. Lackawanna has had to make 54 saves this season, while forcing 70 stops from the opposition. 
 
First-year forward Miguel Pereira (Revere, MA) has three goals and one assist this season for the Falcons, first on the team, posting a second-best-on-the-team 23 shots, eleven on target. Pereira scored a goal in the draw with King's College on September 2^nd, and he scored the game-winner against Pitt-Johnstown on October 3^rd. He also scored the opener against Central Penn last Wednesday. Pereira earned an assist in the draw with West Chester on October 21^st, playing 48 minutes for the Falcons. Miguel had a season-high ten shots, seven on frame, and his goal against Central Penn in 65 minutes last Wednesday.
 
Third-year midfielder Cristian Lopez-Contreras (Chambersburg, PA) has two goals and two assists for the Falcons in his eight games this year. He has eleven shots, seven on target, but hadn't played in a game for the Falcons since leaving the Millersville match with an injury just two minutes in on September 12^th. Lopez-Contreras played an impactful 21 minutes against West Chester, scoring the tying goal against the Golden Rams on October 21^st, his first game back from injury. He assisted Pereira's goal against King's College on September 2^nd, and he also posted an assist against Berkeley (NJ) on September 5^th. He played 38 minutes against Central Penn last Wednesday, scoring a goal on his only shot in the victory. Lopez-Contreras transferred to Lackawanna from Harford CC, where he was an NJCAA Division I All-American.
 
Midfielder/Defender Malik Salau (Lagos, Nigeria) has a goal and two assists this season for four points, playing in 15 games this year. Salau has seven shots, four on target, and earned an assist in the win against Pitt-Johnstown, serving up a perfect long ball for Pereira in the win for the Falcons. Salau scored his goal in the draw with Shippensburg on October 10^th, heading home a set piece in the 42^nd minute to bring the Falcons level. Salau posted an assist against Central Penn last Wednesday, crossing in on the second goal scored for the Falcons.
 
Midfielder Wisdom Afrani (Accra, Ghana) has one goal on 17 shots this season, third on the team, while putting six shots on target for the year. Afrani scored his first goal of the season against East Stroudsburg on October 7^th, tying the game against the Warriors in the 82^nd minute and helping the Falcons get the draw. He tied his season-high with three shots, one on target, against Shippensburg on October 10^th. Afrani picked up an assist in 63 minutes against Central Penn last Wednesday, assisting Pereira's opener in the victory.
 
Forward Tito Tokunboh-Salako (Columbia, MD) leads the Falcons with 25 shots, putting 13 on target this season. The first-year forward picked up the assist on Afrani's goal against East Stroudsburg (10/7). Tito has recorded at least a shot in his last eight games, posting a season-high five shots, four on target, in the draw with Bloom (10/14). Tito played 50 minutes and posted three shots, one on frame, in the win against Central Penn last week.
 
Two goalkeepers have seen action for the Falcons this season, with second-year man Kevin Nievas (West Palm Beach, FL) as the main keeper, starting eleven games. Nievas has allowed 13 goals in his eleven games, a 1.44 goals against average, and has made 22 saves this season, with two clean sheets and a combined shutout. Nievas's clean sheets include the scoreless draw with Bloomsburg (10/14) and the win at Pitt-Johnstown on October 3^rd. That was Nievas's first game back after missing three weeks with an ankle injury. He set a season-best with six saves in the loss to Millersville on October 24^th. He had one save in 79 minutes of action against Central Penn last week.
 
The other keeper is Rowin Thomas (Abilene, TX), a first-year student-athlete who was thrown into action when Nievas went down with injury. Thomas has given up 18 goals in ten appearances, six starts, a 2.27 goals against average. He has made 34 saves, twice posting a season-high six saves. He had six stops in a 1-0 loss to Shepherd on September 19^th, then had six more saves in the 1-1 draw on October 21^st with West Chester. Thomas had his best game against Millersville, keeping a clean sheet in a scoreless draw for the Falcons back on September 12^th. Thomas had four saves in that contest. Rowin played the final eleven minutes against Central Penn, making two saves to help combined with Nievas for the shutout win.
 
Lackawanna College is coached by Will Flannery, in his first season at the helm and who took over the program in February earlier this calendar year. Flannery has coached and played collegiate soccer for the last ten years, previously serving as assistant coach at Lehigh University before coming to Lackawanna. In his one season with the Mountain Hawks, Lehigh made the Patriot League championship game and had six all-conference selections. Before his time in Bethlehem, Flannery spent seven years at Dickinson College in NCAA Division III. While there, he spent five seasons playing with the Devils, then transitioned into coaching immediately after his senior season concluded. Flannery became the first full-time assistant in program history and helped Dickinson achieve never-before-seen heights, including an NCAA Elite 8 appearance and finishing #6 in the national polls in 2024. He was a captain for three years while playing Dickinson. Flannery also has experience coaching at the youth level, working with the Lehigh Soccer Academy and Lehigh Valley United Rush. 
   
The Bobcats
Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse (12-2-2) enters the week as the second-ranked squad in the latest USCAA Division I men's soccer polls, and the Bobcats are fresh off a North American Conference for Intercollegiate Athletics (NACIA) championship, winning the title this past Sunday against Berkeley (NJ), 2-0. The Bobcats were the Northern Division champions, while the Knights, a team the Falcons played and lost 2-1 to back on September 5^th, won the Southern Division.
 
The title game was played at Hudson Valley CC, and Syracuse led in the 12^th minute after a long ball played to the top of the box was headed down and back for a charging forward, Alexis Champin, who lashed the ball into the lower corner for the lead. Berkeley threw bodies forward the rest of the first half and threw the first 15 minutes of the second half, desperately searching for the equalizer, but the Bobcats defense was stout and hung on, and then Champin made the Knights pay with a second goal in the 60^th minute to double the lead and take the wind out of Berkeley's sails.
 
The Bobcats have stats for only six of their 16 games played this season. In those six games, they have scored 21 goals this season, while allowing just nine in response. B&S had 62 shots on the year, coming into Sunday's contest, with 43 shots on goal (.694 SOG %), while the opposition had 58 shots, 37 on target (.638 SOG). The Bobcats have 19 corners, while their opponents have eleven.
 
Junior forward Tyric McAllister has a team-high six goals and five assists this season, posting eleven shots, six on target. McCallister has been sporadic in seeing action, playing in only seven games this year, but he's made the most of his chances. He had two goals in a win against SUNY Adirondack back on September 16^th, then followed that up with two goals in his next appearance against Millennia Atlantic University, while also picking up two assists in the 4-2 win on October 2^nd. He had a goal against both Bryant & Stratton Rochester and Buffalo in back-to-back games on October 7^th and 8^th, then picked up an assist in the draw against B&S Rochester in the semi-final on October 28^th. He had the assist on the first goal against Berkeley on Sunday.
 
Junior defender Geofrey Owusu has three goals and a team-high four assists this season. Owusu was second on the team coming into Sunday's championship game with ten shots, eight on target. He scored a goal and had two assists in the win against Adirondack back on September 16^th. He had a goal against Millennia on October 2^nd, then posted a goal against Buffalo on October 8^th. He assisted the second goal on Sunday against Berkeley.
 
First-year forward Alexis Champin is up to four goals and one assist this season, scoring his brace against Berkeley on Sunday. It's the second time he's scored two goals this season, posting a pair in a 2-1 win against B&S Rochester back on September 15^th.
 
Senior keeper Antonio Costa is the main goaltender on the year, starting in five of the six games he has stats recorded for this season. Costa has given up nine goals in those games, a 2.10 goals against average, and he has made 27 saves. His top save performance heading into Sunday came against B&S Rochester on September 15^th, where he had seven saves in a 2-1 win, and he matched that with seven saves in a 3-1 win against B&S Rochester on October 7^th.
 
Ryan McGee is in his second season in charge of the Bobcats, after being appointed before last season. He's already won 26 games and is 26-5-3 in his almost-two years in charge. McGee came to Syracuse after spending time at Lamar CC in NJCAA Division I, where he was the head coach for both the men's and women's teams. McGee was an international player in the soccer world, playing at Bay Olympic FC in Auckland, New Zealand, during the 2023-2024 season. Before his stint in New Zealand, he played semi-pro soccer in Houston, Texas, and he played once before down under for Australia's Olympia Warriors squad. McGee has a bachelor's degree in marketing from Marymount California University, where he played for two seasons and helped Marymount reach the NAIA Final Four. He spent two previous seasons at Santa Barbara City College, and began his career before that with Dakota County Technical College. McGee is a Chanhassen, Minnesota native.
 
Next: 
Lackawanna College has no guaranteed tomorrow. The only way to keep playing is by winning Monday's game AND getting lucky enough to be picked by the USCAA committee to play in the USCAA Division I Men's Soccer tournament, taking place November 12^th through the 16^th in Pittsburgh. Despite their losses, Lackawanna has a strong case one of the toughest schedules amongst the potential participants, playing a full PSAC schedule.