With time winding down in the second overtime, the Eagles men’s soccer team flew down the field with the ball and junior Mike Worden, alone in front of the Lafayette goalie, struck the ball into the net to end a sensational comeback, beating the visiting Leopards 2-1.
Although it was not the best of games for the team, the Eagles moved into first place in the conference standings, remaining undefeated against Patriot League opponents. The win also improved their overall record to 6-3-1 on the season.
For the Eagles, the first half resembled the weather: unpleasant and sloppy. The Eagles could not seem to break through the Leopard defense consistently as a group. Passes were intercepted, and many of the drives were stopped before the Eagles could even execute a shot. The Eagles’ sophomore Jack Scott was able to dribble near the goalbox and shoot it towards the right side of the net in the 33rd minute but was unsuccessful. The Leopards took advantage of the Eagles lack of composure soon after. In the 35th minute, the Leopards lifted the ball into the goalbox where Eagles goalie Matt Makowski jumped up to snag the ball. Unfortunately, the ball slipped past his gloves and Lafayette’s Josh Brown scored the first goal of the game into an empty net, putting them up to 1-0.
“For whatever reason, we came out flat,” Coach Todd West said of the first half. “You don’t expect it when it’s two first-place teams in a conference game [...] we challenged their mental toughness under pressure, and they obviously stepped up.”
In the second half, the Eagles continued to struggle on the offensive side. Their frustration showed with bad shots and a yellow card for misconduct. With five minutes left in the game, the Eagles saw their chances at victory perishing. However, they suddenly came out with an intensity reflective of last week’s victory against Army.
The Eagles made several contesting shots against the Leopards, but, none of them went in. Then, with 50 seconds remaining in regulation, junior Nick Kapus booted a free kick past Leopards goalie Andrew Pianko into the left side of the net to tie the score at 1-1, sending the game into overtime.
In the first overtime, neither team scored, but the second one proved different. With four minutes left from a draw, the Eagles Mike Worden received a long pass ahead of the defense. With only the goalie to beat, Worden chipped the ball into the Leopard’s net, before being mobbed by ecstatic Eagle fans and players.
Both teams came into the game having ended in a draw in their last three meetings. Lafayette had the edge based on their overall record. But, the victory added to AU’s winning-streak against Patriot League opponents, now at four games. After being held to six shots in the first half, AU retaliated to outshoot Lafayette 21-15. They also received four yellow cards.
The AU Men’s Soccer team will step onto Reeves‘ Field this Tuesday to face Pennsylvania at 3 p.m.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
