ALTOONA, PA:  Maartin Koostra and Chas DeSanto each tallied four points to help Albright College breeze past Thiel 6-1 in the consolation game of the 2007 Penn State Altoona Challenge Cup Tournament Sunday.  Albright finished third in the four-team field after falling in the championship game a year ago.

Koostra scored two goals on the afternoon, the first coming at the 27:33 mark when DeSanto found him in the box for the punch in.  His second goal was via a penalty kick less than four minutes into the second half.  DeSanto recorded an astounding four assists on the game, two coming in each half.  He fed Dan Martin for a one timer just seconds after Koostra's first goal.  In the second 45 minutes, Michael Goffredo used a DeSanto corner kick to head home Albright's fifth goal.  His last assist was at the 73:50 mark when he found Michael Graham inside the box for the score. 

Thiel scored its only goal of the tournament with less than five minutes to play.  Chad Swisher headed home an Asher Bray corner kick to set the final at 6-1.  Both Swisher and Bray were named to the all-tournament team.

Koostra and DeSanto represented Albright on the all-tournament team.  The Lions out-shot the Tomcats 21-8 on the afternoon and fired 12 shots on goal. 

CHAMPIONSHIP:       Penn State Altoona      3         Marietta College       1           

ALTOONA, PA:  Senior forward Bryan Pierzga scored the final two goals of the game, breaking a 1-1 deadlock and sending Penn State Altoona to its third consecutive Challenge Cup Tournament championship Sunday afternoon.  The Lions used a late surge to overtake Marietta College 3-1 thanks in large part to Pierzga's heroics.

With the game knotted at one, sophomore Len Castor found Pierzga just outside the box for a one timer that beat Marietta keeper Kasey Gray.  The Lions then tried to hold off a furious Pioneer charge and received an insurance goal with less than two minutes to play.  That's when Pierzga took a Brock Heller pass, dribbled right, and blasted a shot past Gray to give Altoona a two goal lead. 

The Lions scored their first goal less than three minutes into the contest when Dan Saxton headed home Len Castor's corner kick at the 2:36 mark.  Marietta's lone goal came in the 27th minute via Dan Cawley's header off a long cross by teammate Alan Porter.  The Pioneers out-shot Altoona 11-4 in the first half and 18-9 for the game.  The Lions attempted only three shots on goal but all three found the net. 

Pierzga was named the tournament MVP for the second straight year.  He was joined on the all-tournament team by Saxton, Joe Monaco, and goalkeeper Marc Zajac, who allowed just one goal and tallied six saves over two days.  Cawley, Joel Nau, Dele Adedapo, and Rob Vazquez were the all-tournament selections from Marietta.

Penn State Altoona improved to 6-1 on the season and will travel to Carnegie Mellon University on September 19 for a game with the nationally acclaimed Tartans.

2007 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

1)  Penn State Altoona
Dan Saxton
Marc Zajac
Joe Monaco
Bryan Pierzga  (MVP)

 2)  Marietta College
Robert Vazquez
Joel Nau
Dan Cawley
Dele Adedapo

 3)  Albright College
Maartin Koostra
Chas DeSanto

4)  Thiel College
Chad Swisher
Asher Bray