CHARLESTON, S.C. – Two goals in two second half minutes completed a remarkable comeback from the College of Charleston men's soccer team to take down Northeastern 2-1 on senior night. With only ten minutes left,
Cornell Holland struck a 25-yard effort to level the game with
Tucker Heffron grabbing the game-winner minutes later to give Charleston their first Colonial Athletic Association victory of the season heading into the final run of games.
Charleston (4-8-2, 1-4-1 CAA) started the game the brighter,
Ben Tweedie turning his marker on the left wing in the 4
th minute with a Cryuff turn. Tweedie played
Victor Oladipo at the top of the box, but his effort flew wide of the left post.
A minute later
Tucker Heffron combined with Oladipo via a smart one-two, Heffron taking the volley on first time and seeing it flash a yard wide of the top left corner.
Northeastern (5-7-1, 2-3-1 CAA) came right back at the Cougars,
Treston Kederer making a save in goal with another effort blocked before they took the lead in the 12
th minute through a smartly finished header into the bottom corner.
The Cougars came out the second half pushing for the leveler. They worked a short corner in the 49
th minute, a cross from
Joao Mauricio de Souza finding Heffron but his snapshot half-volley was saved from eight yards.
Northeastern had chances to put the game to bed with a one-on-one opportunity squandered and a shot blocked from point blank range.
As the game entered the final stages Charleston pulled out the most remarkable of comebacks with two goals in two minutes to take the lead.
Rio Murray held the ball up well at the top of the box, playing the ball to Holland 25-yards out. The senior took a touch out his feet and fired a shot that flew into the top left corner to level the game up.
From kickoff the Cougars pushed the Huskies, forcing them to lose possession. De Souza found space midway in the Northeastern half, threaded a ball between the defense for Heffron to pounce and slot the ball under the goalkeeper for the 2-1 lead and spark a team celebration by the corner flag.
The Huskies pushed in the final few minutes but
Treston Kederer and the Charleston defense held firm to record their first CAA victory of the season as they look to keep their conference tournament hopes alive with two more wins at Hofstra and William & Mary, both on the road.
Quotable – Head Coach Ralph Lundy
"We had lots of guts… lots of fight, I thought we deserved the second half, the goals were great… Some of the players said we gotta believe more, we've got to be stronger, we've got to fight harder and it payed off in the second half."
Notables
•
Cornell Holland grabbed his second goal of the season
•
Tucker Heffron scored his team leading fifth goal of the season
•
Treston Kederer made four saves in the Charleston goal to get the win
• Seven student-athletes played the full 90 minutes
