Mountaineers Win In Dramatic Fashion
Photo Courtesy: Matt Haggerty
LEICESTER, Mass. - The Southern Vermont College men's soccer team wins thriller against NECC foe Becker College 3-2 in double overtime when Adrien Alexis sizzled a strike past the Hawks keeper with only seconds on the clock. SVC also reached a milestone in the win column as they improved to 10-3-1. It has been 18 years since the program has had 10 wins (12-7, ‘91) and in that span there was only one season (‘96) with a record of .500 or better.
"We came out very slow tonight," said head coach Tim Penrod. "For the first 20 minutes, we really struggled to put together any attacks."
Becker (2-13-1, 1-3 NECC) would get on the board first, as Ryan Nagel put home a rebound off a shot by Snjezan Telebak in the 39th minute. However, the Mountaineers (10-3-1, 3-1-1 NECC) answered back almost immediately, with freshman Alex Borini finishing off a great heel pass from sophomore Nick Haggerty just 35 seconds later.
"Alex has been playing really well the last few games, and he's doing a great job combining with our forwards. He and Nick have a good understanding of each other, and it definitely showed in our first goal," said Penrod.
With the score knotted 1-1 at the half, SVC wasted little time going on the attack in the second stanza. Freshman Adrien Alexis took a pass from Haggerty and slammed a shot home from the top of the penalty area in the 54th minute.
However, Becker refused to give up the game, and pressed forward looking for the equalizer. Despite some well-organized attacks by SVC, Becker goalkeeper Aaron Fill kept the game close. Fill would finish the game with five saves.
As the second half wore on, Becker became the more dangerous side, forcing junior Mountaineer goalkeeper Aaron Eschler to make four of his seven saves in the second half.
"We still need to get better at closing games out, especially when we are up by just one goal. Once they held off a few of our attacks, they started taking the initiative, and we really got knocked back on our heels."
Becker's urgent attacks paid off with less than 30 seconds left in regulation. Following a poor clearance by the Mountaineer defense, Tyler Johnson got a pass to Fabian Delgado, who made no mistake and struck a beautiful shot into the upper corner of the goal, past the outstretched hands of a diving Eschler.
After neither team was able to score during the first overtime, it appeared as though the game might be headed for a 2-2 draw. As time winded down, Haggerty played a hopeful ball forward. The ball found the on-rushing Alexis, who beat a Becker defender and went in 1-on-1 with Fill. After firing just over the crossbar earlier in the OT period, the freshman made no mistake and placed the ball in the lower corner with just six seconds remaining.
"This was a huge win for us as a program. A lot of teams would have packed it in and said, ‘fine, we'll take the draw.' But these guys just refused to stop believing in each other and their abilities. Adrien will probably finish that chance 10 times out of 10, so when he broke through, my only concern was he wouldn't get the shot off before time ran out."
"Hitting ten wins is definitely a big moment for these players. They set very high goals for themselves as a team during pre-season. I think what is more important than ten wins is the fact it's our third win in the conference and puts us in a great position for making the post-season. Right now, that's our top priority. Once we're in the tournament, anything can, and probably will happen. Every conference game has been tough, and not just for us. There's really not much difference between the team in first place and the team in sixth place right now."
The Mountaineers will bring their two game winning-streak back to Everett Field on Tuesday as they play host to local rival MCLA at 3:30 p.m.
