The AU me's soccer team entered Sunday's match mired in two-match skid. At the other end of the field, No. 18 Lehigh came in as winners of two-straight,
Both saw their fortunes reversed by an overtime game-winner from AU senior forward Coco Del Rio that gave the Eagles a desperately-needed 2-1 win.
With just 20 seconds left in the first overtime, Del Rio scored after AU freshman forward Ryan Studner launched a corner kick into Lehigh's box. Del Rio fought through the congestion and blasted a shot past Mountain Hawk goalkeeper Charlie Sales to secure victory.
"I was in the right place at the right time," Del Rio said of the goal, his second on the afternoon. "The ball rebounded and I just put everything I had in my body to put it in the net, and luckily we won."
The victory propelled AU to 2-1 in Patriot League play and puts it atop the conference standings, even after a depressing September non-conference stretch leaves them at 3-6-1 overall. Lehigh dropped to 6-2-1, and 2-1 in the PL.
"It puts us top in the conference and the No. 1 team hosts, so it's still out there for us," said AU head coach Todd West. "It's a big win for us."
Del Rio, who entered with one goal in a limited reserve roll this season, also scored the equalizer in the second half, bringing him to three goals for the year.
After a scoreless first half, both teams started the second more aggressively. Just past three minutes into the half, AU freshman defender Philip Purdy received a yellow card.
Fewer than two minutes later Lehigh's Peter Classi one-upped Purdy, being sent off by a red card and forcing the Mountain Hawks to go the rest of the game a man down.
West said he thought the foul was a turning point for his offense.
"I thought it was a deserved red card because he swung at the knee, and you can end careers that way," West said. "It certainly put them on a defensive posture, maybe even more than they might have been."
But shorthanded Lehigh immediately went up a goal when in the 51st minute, leading scorer Adam Williamson connected with a flip throw-in from teammate Tom Zubulake.
"We gave away a throw-in that we didn't need to give away, and they had the long throw-in and a lot of big guys," West said. "It was just a lapse and we should have never given the throw-in away, but we did. But luckily we fought back."
AU fired eight of the next 10 shots, but found no success against the stingy Mountain Hawk defense until the 82nd minute.
That's when Del Rio first broke down Lehigh's 10-man defensive effort and reached a free kick from teammate Sal Caccavale to make it 1-1.
Both teams failed to net a goal for the remainder of regulation and forced the contest into overtime.
That first overtime period looked destined for a similar fate as the last eight minutes of regulation. But with two seconds remaining and Lehigh still playing a man down, Del Rio again found himself in the right position.
