NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The No. 3-seeded Westminster men's soccer team won, 2-1, against No. 6 seed Geneva at home in the first round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament on Saturday.
 
Westminster (12-7) gained the early advantage when graduate student Nick Iregui (Gig Harbor, WA / Charles Wright Academy) placed a nice corner kick to senior Tyler Caterino (Monessen, PA / Monessen) who headed the ball back to classmate Marc Esqueda (San Bruno, CA / Junipero Serra) for a header of his own to the back of the net. For the rest of the first half, Geneva (6-9-3) could not capitalize on its scoring opportunities and the Titans held a 1-0 lead at intermission.
 
Westminster built onto its lead in the 58^th minute when sophomore Kai Haseyama (Encinitas, CA / San Dieguito Academy) scored his first career playoff goal off a dish from Caterino from a 30-yard free kick. During the 64^th minute, the Golden Tornadoes would strike back from Carnel Kerr's goal to make it 2-1. After the Geneva goal, the Titan defense held strong and only allowed one shot-on-goal for the remainder of the game.
 
Titan junior goalkeeper Jad Jadallah (Canfield, OH / Canfield) tallied five saves and earned the win in the complete-game effort.
 
Westminster bested Geneva in shots-on-goal (7-6).
 
The Titans advance to face No. 2 seed Franciscan on the road on Wednesday, November 3 in the PAC Championship Semifinals.