WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  In eight seasons under head coach Greg DeVito, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team has tied 20 matches. Few were as rewarding as the one Saturday, when the Warriors qualified for the Little East Conference playoffs for the eighth straight season on the strength of a 1-1, double overtime draw with Plymouth State University at Thomas Nevers Field.

By avoiding a loss, Eastern (9-5-4, 4-2-1 LEC) gains the No. 2 seed in the four-team playoffs and will host third-seeded Keene State College Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Nevers Field. Rhode Island College earned the fourth and final playoff bid the hard way, handing regular-season champion Massachusetts Boston its first loss, 1-0, Saturday in Boston. The Anchormen won themselves a return engagement to Boston against the Beacons in Wednesday's other semifinal.

Eastern, Keene State and Rhode Island all share second place in the final standings, with 13 points apiece. The Warriors' wins over Rhode Island (2-0) and Keene State (1-0 in OT) give them the No. 2 seed. Keene's 3-1 triumph over visiting Rhode Island  Oct. 3 make it the No. 3 seed. Keene gained a share of second Saturday with an 8-1 drubbing of winless University of Southern Maine. Plymouoth concludes the season fifth in the conference standings with 11 points.

Plymouth (5-10-2, 3-2-2 LEC) was 11 minutes away from its second post-season tournament berth in three years and a dethronement of the three-time LEC tournament champion Warriors before Eastern junior forward Zane Lombardo (Portland) – moved by necessity to the front line – scored perhaps the most important goal of his soccer career with 10:53 remaining. Freshman midfielder Adam Traxler (Newburyport, MA) got his head on a serve into the box near the right post and sent it back to the middle, where Lombardo  -- inserted into the match just four minutes earlier -- followed with a header that he knocked past sophomore keeper Felix Lindeberg from close range.

Coming off three consecutive shutout losses, Plymouth broke up a scoreless game Saturday when junior forward Alex Herbert  found the underside of the crossbar with a shot from just outside the 18-yard box that lifted the Panthers into the lead with 27 minutes left in regulation.

In overtime, Eastern sophomore keeper Greg Walton (Brunswick, ME) twice kept the ball out of the back of the net by tipping it over the crossbar to preserve the shutout. The first came when a ball was played to him by an Eastern defender with 4:30 left and the second with five seconds left when he leaped to push a long shot by junior defender Graham Hughes  out of danger.

Walton and Lindeberg each made four saves.

While the tie ends a streak of eight straight wins against Plymouth for Eastern, it more importantly extends an unbeaten streak to nine. In the most recent previous contest between the teams at Nevers, Eastern had emerged with a 2-1 overtime victory in the LEC semifinals on the way to its second of three straight conference playoff championships.

Former three-time defending regular-season champion Eastern was edged by UMass Boston Oct. 4 and UMass Dartmouth three weeks later – both by 1-0 scores – for its two conference losses. Like Plymouth, the Warriors were shut out in their most recent three games prior to Saturday, tying regionally-ranked Coast Guard before losing on consecutive days to UMass Dartmouth and Babson by 1-0 scores last weekend.