The last time Penn State Abington and St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s soccer met with anything on the line, St. Mary’s won 2-0 in the 2024 United East championship final to claim back-to-back conference titles. Saturday, Abington got its measure of revenge, holding off a late St. Mary’s surge for a 2-1 win that opened both teams’ 2026 conference slate.
The result stings for a St. Mary’s program that has owned this conference for the better part of three years. The Seahawks won UEC tournament titles in 2023 and 2024, then went a perfect 8-0 in league play during the 2025 regular season before a stunning semifinal upset — a 2-1 loss to fifth-seeded Penn College — ended their bid for a three-peat. Saturday’s loss to Abington means the Seahawks (3-6-0, 0-1-0 UEC) are now searching for their footing early in a season that opened with high expectations after last year’s dominant regular season.
Abington (2-4-3, 1-0-0 UEC) got what it needed despite being outplayed for long stretches. St. Mary’s controlled the first half, out-shooting the Nittany Lions 9-3 with a 4-0 edge in corner kicks, but Abington broke through first when Frankie Rafferty finished a feed from Aramis Shire in the 28th minute. Four of St. Mary’s nine first-half shots tested Abington keeper Hector Ortiz, but none got past him, and the hosts carried a 1-0 lead into the break.
Abington doubled its advantage in the 64th minute when Shane Lachawiec converted his second goal of the season off assists from Rafferty and Nico Anagnostopoulos, putting St. Mary’s in a two-goal hole. The Seahawks got one back late — junior midfielder Zach Blaum buried his fourth goal of the year in the 87th minute off a feed from senior captain Braden Kindred — and nearly forced overtime when St. Mary’s had another look on goal two minutes later, but the shot sailed wide left.
The final shot count favored St. Mary’s decisively, 16-5, including a 7-4 edge in shots on goal, and the Seahawks also won the corner-kick battle 5-4 — the kind of statistical dominance that usually produces a different result. Kindred led St. Mary’s with six shots, including two on frame, while senior goalkeeper Zack Reed made two saves in his fifth start of the season. For Abington, Rafferty finished with a goal and an assist, and Ortiz turned away six shots to pick up the win.
The loss snapped a three-game St. Mary’s win streak in the series and moved Abington to its second win of the season. St. Mary’s still leads the all-time series 8-2, a margin built in large part on that 2024 championship win now avenged.
St. Mary’s stays home to try to right the ship, hosting Penn State Harrisburg on Sept. 29 for Gold Rush at JLR Stadium, followed by Keystone on Oct. 3 for the program’s Hispanic Heritage Celebration game.
