WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Mount St. Mary's men's soccer team moves on to its third Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament championship game after edging Monmouth 3-2 in penalty kicks in the NEC semifinals on Friday. The Mount will battle second seed Fairleigh on Sunday in West Long Branch, N.J. The Knights defeated No. 3 Quinnipiac in the semifinals on Friday. Game time is 12 p.m.

After a scoreless 110 minutes of soccer, Eric Detzel (York, Pa./Central York) converted his penalty kick into the back of the right netting to hand Mount St. Mary's a 3-2 lead. The Hawks goalkeeper Bryan Meredith stepped up with the chance to tie the score at 3 and send it into the round of sudden death penalty kicks, but the sophomore's shot sailed high over the goal to help the Mount advance into the NEC title game.

Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) made five saves for the Mountaineers (9-9-1) while Meredith turned away three shots for Monmouth (12-3-3) in the loss.

Playing in its first NEC Tournament since 1999, Mount St. Mary's dominated play in the second half, but neither team could find the back of the net. The game ended in a draw, but the Mount moves on to the championship game thanks to winning the penalty kick round. The Mountaineers also made the championship game in 1994 and 1999.

The Mountaineers were the first up to kick in the penalty round and Vinnie Berry (Helensburgh, Scotland/St. Patrick's), the squad's lone All-NEC first-team selection, started Mount St. Mary's off on the right foot by converting his shot into the left netting. Ryan Kinne then hit the bar to maintain a Mount 1-0 edge.

Ty Fenstermacher (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) had his shot saved by Meredith before the Hawks Angelo Amato tied the score at 1 by scoring to the left netting.

Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) and Daniel Bostock each converted their kicks to keep the score knotted.

After Kyle Patrick (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) hit the bar, Monmouth had the chance to take the lead with one round left before Andreas Klang hit the bar to keep the teams in a standstill at 2-all.

Detzel, the Mount's second leading scorer, came up and posted the decisive goal into the right netting to clinch the win for the Mountaineers thanks to Meredith missing high on the final kick.

Berry had the best chance to hand Mount St. Mary's a lead in regulation, but his boot from 30-yard out heading toward the top left post was tipped out of bounds by Meredith with 11:50 remaining in regulation. Detzel had his shot saved a minute later and then the sophomore missed wide with 4:50 left in regulation. Gary Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md,./Magruder) gave the Mountaineers its best shot in overtime, but missed high off a corner kick in the first extra session.

In the closing minutes of regulation, Klang had his shot saved by Davis. Kinne had Monmouth's best chance in overtime, but missed high in the second overtime.

It marked the first game decided by penalty kicks in the NEC since Long Island defeated Saint Francis (Pa.) 7-6 in penalty kicks in 2004. The match was the second meeting in the postseason between the Mount and Monmouth after the two teams met in the semifinals in 1990 with the Hawks come out victories 1-0 in overtime.