ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. — The St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s soccer team saw its bid for a third straight United East Conference title end with a 2-1 loss to Penn College in the tournament semifinals on Nov. 5. Top-seeded St. Mary’s, which entered with a 13-6-1 record, hosted the fifth-seeded Wildcats at the on-campus field, where a late goal sealed the upset for Penn College, now 11-6-2.
The match remained scoreless through a defensive first half, with St. Mary’s junior goalkeeper Jordon Eckman recording two saves and Penn College’s Justin Crismale matching him. The Seahawks controlled possession early in the second half but broke through at the 67-minute mark. Junior forward Franco Reyes, from Silver Spring and a Montgomery Blair High School product, collected a loose ball near the penalty area, dribbled to the edge and curled a shot into the top left corner for his eighth goal of the season.
Penn College responded swiftly, leveling the score three minutes later at 70:00. Midfielder Mason Kostick threaded a pass through traffic to Logan Pietrzak, who finished from close range for his fifth tally. The Wildcats then capitalized on a counter in the 78th minute, when Cooper Smith assisted Diego Diaz for the go-ahead strike, his first of the year. Eckman made two more stops in the closing stages, but St. Mary’s could not equalize despite a flurry of chances.
St. Mary’s outshot Penn College 20-12 overall, including 7-4 on target, and the teams split three corner kicks apiece. Offsides calls were even at one each, while fouls favored the visitors 8-13. Reyes and junior forward Lucas Evans, a Greenbelt native from South River High School, led the Seahawks with four shots apiece; Evans put two on frame. Matthew Kuwik added three shots with two on goal, and Braden Kindred contributed two attempts. Crismale’s six saves anchored Penn College’s back line, which improved to 1-4 all-time against St. Mary’s.
The defeat marked Penn College’s first victory over the Seahawks in five meetings and propelled the Wildcats to their inaugural conference championship appearance, set for Nov. 8 against Penn State Harrisburg at the higher seed’s site. St. Mary’s, which claimed the regular-season crown with an unblemished 8-0-0 conference mark and 24 points, had earned a first-round bye along with seeds two through six in the 10-team, single-elimination bracket. The Seahawks outscored conference foes 23-3 during the regular season, with 14 players contributing goals led by senior Nick Haney’s nine.
This semifinal exit capped a season of highs for St. Mary’s, which returned to the United Soccer Coaches Region IV rankings on Oct. 28 after a 10-3-1 start that included nonconference wins over Washington College and a draw with then-RV Lynchburg. The team navigated a midseason stretch of three losses in four games, including a 1-0 defeat to Penn State Harrisburg on Oct. 18, before closing with four straight victories to secure the top seed. Reyes emerged as a key offensive piece with eight goals and three assists across 20 appearances, while Evans tallied four goals and two assists. Defensively, Eckman posted a 1.02 goals-against average in 1,440 minutes, anchoring a unit that allowed just 15 goals in 20 games.
In the broader United East landscape, St. Mary’s entered 2025 as two-time defending tournament champions, having defeated Penn State Abington 2-1 in the 2024 final to repeat the 2023 title won over Penn State Harrisburg. The conference, formed in July 2023 through the merger of the Colonial States Athletic Conference and other independents, features 12 full members and emphasizes competitive balance among Division III programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. St. Mary’s, a public liberal arts honors college founded in 1840 on the site of Maryland’s first capital, has fielded a varsity men’s soccer team since 1971, evolving from club status to consistent contenders. The program claimed its first conference title in 2023 under coach Tom Green, a St. Mary’s alumnus who took over in 2019 and guided the Seahawks to a 14-4-2 mark that year, including an NCAA Division III first-round berth where they fell 1-0 to John Carroll University.
Looking ahead, St. Mary’s graduates several seniors, including Haney and defender Will Shattuck, but returns core pieces like Reyes, Evans and Kuwik for 2026. Offseason preparations will focus on recruiting through the program’s ties to local high schools, including St. Mary’s Ryken and Chopticon, while adhering to NCAA Division III rules that prohibit athletic scholarships and emphasize academic integration. The United East automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which St. Mary’s earned in 2023 and 2024, remains a benchmark; Penn College’s breakthrough this year illustrates the conference’s growing parity, with five different champions since 2019.
The 2025 campaign, despite the semifinal stumble, solidified St. Mary’s as a powerhouse, posting a .675 winning percentage and advancing to the postseason for the third consecutive year.
