Dowling Ties Up Men's Soccer 1-1; Advances In Penalty Kicks
Box Score
OAKDALE, N.Y. (Nov. 5, 2010) – The men's soccer team battled to a double-overtime 1-1 tie with Dowling College on Friday evening, but the Golden Lions advanced to Sunday's ECC championship game by virtue of penalty kicks, 4-3.
The Pioneers end their season at 7-8-2 overall, while Dowling moves to 10-1-5.
The game was a battle from the start, as each team had scoring opportunities, but the goalkeepers for both teams came up with key stops, and a scoreless first half extended into the first 15 minutes of the second half, before a foul in the box set up Dowling's Stefan Draskovic with a penalty kick at 61:02. Draskovic converted, and the Golden Lions led with 29 minutes to play.
But the Pioneers continued to battle, and with less than seven minutes remaining, the Golden Lions had a handball in the box, giving C.W. Post a chance to tie the score with a PK of their own. Sophomore forward
Betim Bajrami (Helsingborg, Sweden) converted with a low kick into the right half of the net, knotting the score at 1-1.
The teams continued their back and forth play during the two overtime periods, with Pioneer GK
Marco Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) coming up with a diving save to his left to keep the game scoreless with thirty seconds remaining in the second OT period.
Deadlocked after two overtimes, the game went to penalty kicks, with Dowling converting its first two and getting a stop from goalie Chris Kucera on the first Post try to put DC at a 2-1 advantage. The Pioneers evened the count when Jorgensen made a save, but the next Pioneer attempt hit the post and careened wide, and Dowling converted on its final attempt to advance to the ECC Championship.