College of Charleston
William and Mary
M. Soccer Succumbs to Late OT Goal
10/16/2014 2:58:00 AM | Men's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Despite enjoying a long second-half lead, the College of Charleston men's soccer team was undone by a William and Mary goal with 24 seconds left in the first of two potential sudden-death overtime periods in a 3-2 loss in Colonial Athletic Association play at Patriots Point on Wednesday night.
The loss slides the Cougars to 2-8-2 (0-3-1 CAA) and steepens CofC's climb to the CAA Championships, but with four league matches left on the schedule, the postseason scenarios remain virtually boundless.
“This was a tough one,” said head coach Ralph Lundy. “The guys fought hard; and we had goals to show for it. We took lots of shots and created chances to secure the win. It's really tough. I feel terrible for the players because they put so much into the game. But, we're still alive. We've got four conference games left, and the way this conference goes, everybody beats everybody, and you never know where you'll end up. We will keep fighting.”
Charleston's goals came off the boots of Tanner Clay and Troy Peterson in the first half, but W&M battled to force overtime. In the 100th minute, with a second overtime period looming, the Tribe made one last push up the pitch, parrying on a Cougar attack from the other end, and netted the game winner with 24 seconds showing on the clock.
Charleston looked to establish itself as the better team in the early going and created early pressure with clever passing and dynamic movement off the ball. The Tribe were often forced to boot the ball into touch in order to recover, allowing the Cougars to push numbers forward and defender Cesar Murillo lining his powerful throw-ins into the box for scoring opportunities.
Goalkeeper Alex Young saw his first action in the seventh minute when William Eskay found space up the right side against the run of play, but Young surged off his goal line to stifle Eskay's effort from point-blank.
In the 11th minute, however, Young was powerless to stop a sensational effort off the boot of Chris Albiston who bent a ball into the extremities of the upper-left corner from the top of the 18 yard box, giving the Tribe the lead.
The Cougars responded less than a minute later, as Daan Brinkman lobbed a high-arching ball into the box and Clay converted a sliding volley to boot it into the back of the net for the instantaneous equalizer.
After the rapid scoring, the match settled a bit with the teams stretching the field and vying for possession.
Junior Tucker Coons checked into the match in the 36th minute and immediately made a mark on the match, as his first assignment was a throw-in at the threshold of the Cougars' attacking third. His throw was tapped back to him and he played a low pass to the middle of the pitch where Peterson settled and touched his shot off the inside of the left post and into the back of the net for a 2-1 Cougar lead.
The Cougars held the lead for just under half an hour of game clock, but it was again Albiston who solved CofC's defensive riddle in the 64th minute. Josh West ran the ball through the right side of the box and began a cross to the far post, with Eskay helping it along the goal mouth before Albiston ushered it into the back of the net from just a couple yards away.
Charleston created a multitude of chances down the stretch, leading to a 4-0 corner-kick advantage and 9-5 shot margin after the first half. One offensive stretch led to five shots and two corner kicks in a four-minute window around the 80th minute, but the ball managed to stay out of the goal.
The overtime period flowed back-and-forth from end to end with both teams generating chances at a seemingly inevitable game winner.
Unfortunately for the home side, it was the Tribe's efforts which finally bore fruit and left the Cougars stunned. After a failed CofC scoring chance in the 100th minute, it seemed the first overtime would expire and a second 10-minute period was in store, but W&M's Reilly Maw made one final push up the right side and slid a late pass across the goal mouth where Eskay put it away, dealing the Cougars the tough-to-swallow loss.
Despite Wednesday's result evading the Cougars, CofC still remains a win away from what would be one of six playoff berths, with Charleston midway through its conference schedule.
Next up for the Cougars is a road trip to Harrisonburg, Va., for an Oct. 22 match against James Madison, the team currently sitting in the desirable sixth-place position and – at just three points clear of CofC in the standings – well within the Cougars' reach.
