Men's Soccer Battles Dowling To 0-0 Tie; Captures ECC Championship in Penalty Kicks
Box Score
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Nov. 8, 2009) – In a game fitting for a championship contest, the C.W. Post men's soccer team battled the Dowling College Golden Lions for two scoreless regulation periods followed by two scoreless overtime periods, before finally claiming the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament title in penalty kicks, 6-5.
Following the game, C.W. Post freshman defender Leron Haywood (Rosedale, N.Y.) was name the ECC Tournament Most Valuable Player.
The game officially ends in a tie, but the Pioneers claim the title by virtue of the penalty kicks. With the tie, the Pioneers move to 12-5-2 while the Golden Lions now stand at 13-5-1.
The two teams battled to a scoreless first half. C.W. Post had its best scoring chance in the 32nd minute as Betim Bajrami (Helsingborg, Sweden) sent a perfect cross from the left side to Kevin McPhillips (East Williston, N.Y.), who's one-touch laser sailed just over the crossbar.
After only four shots apiece for the teams in the first half, the second half saw more offensive chances for both teams, but neither side was able to convert as several shots sailed high and a Pioneer chance hit the post in the 64th minute, while a Dowling shot hit the bar in the 75th minute. C.W. Post took nine second half shots to Dowling's 11, but the game remained scoreless through 90 minutes and headed into overtime.
Two overtime periods saw mainly a battle for possession as Dowling managed only two shots in the overtime and the Pioneers took only one. The evenly balanced play led the game to remain scoreless after 110 minutes played.
Dowling matched the Pioneers kick for kick through the first five shots, as Bajrami, Philip Svensson (Lund, Sweden), Andreas Backstrom (Sodra Sanby, Sweden), David Carlsson (Gothenburg, Sweden), and McPhillips each took successful PK's.
Still tied a 5-5 after the first round of kicks, it became sudden death and James Stevenson (Brighton, England) was successful on his attempt.
Pioneer graduate goalkeeper Shane Flanagan (Dublin, Ireland), close to saving several shots, guessed correctly on Marius Ramdahl's shot to the middle right side of the net, knocking away the shot and giving the Pioneers the title.
Game totals saw Dowling hold a 17-14 edge in shots, while the Pioneers took four corners to Dowling's two.
Flanagan made four saves in goal for C.W. Post, while Chris Kucera made four in the net for Dowling.
C.W. Post will now await Monday's regional seeding to find out if it will receive a berth in the upcoming Division II Men's Soccer East Region Championships.