Sports

Thriller

Men's soccer ties Hartford in an overtime classic

By Matthew Conyers

Posted on Oct. 30, 2003, at 12:00 a.m.

Holly Barber

MUDDY - Black Bear midfielder Andy Halligan heads the ball away from a University of Hartford player during their wet and muddy game on Wednesday. The teams battled to a thrilling overtime tie.

There are always games that stand out in a season. Games that seem to shine so bright, games that from the very first whistle will be hard to forget. They become classics because for a mere two hours or so they represent the game at its finest.

On Wednesday afternoon the University of Maine men’s soccer team came away with a dramatic 3-3 draw against the University of Hartford. The game included dramatic comebacks by each team, dazzling saves and one penalty kick that spectators will have a hard time forgetting. The game, which had serious implications on the America East Conference, played out on a rain soaked field were players struggled to stay on their feet.

Maine entered the contest desperately seeking a victory to push them into the top six in the conference. The top six teams each get berths in the conference tournament which begins next Wednesday, Nov. 5.

Anything less than a tie against the Hawks would have eliminated the Black Bears’ chances of seeing postseason play, forcing them to watch from the outside in seventh place. The match also carried plenty of weight for visiting Hartford, who with a victory could clinch a berth into the tourney.

Maine junior Justin Stockford opened up the scoring when Hartford goalie Ryan Carr misplayed the ball allowing Stockford to slip by and boot the ball in from a foot out. The goal came ten minutes into the match and served as Stockford’s team-leading sixth goal of the year. The Black Bears quickly increased their lead when only two minutes later sophomore Kyle Vosmus recovered his own rebound off Carr and pushed the ball into the right side of the net. Vosmus tallied his first goal of the season on the play and gave Maine what seemed like a steep advantage.

“We were able to come out real strong and attack right from the start,” said sophomore Daniel Florez.

However Hartford would quickly begin chipping away at the lead after junior Alon Lubezky notched the Hawks first goal of the game off a free kick. Lubezky, who is only four goals away from breaking the University of Hartford scoring record, was named America East Player of the week on Monday. With the intensity picking up, the score remained the same for the rest of the half giving the Black Bears a one goal advantage going into the half.

The teams traded momentum back and forth in the second half and goaltenders faced an onslaught of shots that were unable to find the back of the net. Mongeon was the first to let a goal by in the half as Hartford tied the match up with only 20 minutes remaining. Senior Mike Santangelo was able to send a shot on Monegon who was unable to get control of the ball. Lubezky recorded the assist on the play for Hartford.

“After starting off so strong, we laid back and allowed Hartford back into the game,” said Florez.

As the clock ticked down to the last minutes of the half, Hartford was able to snatch its first advantage of the day on a fantastic goal by Lubezky. Off a well-placed corner Lubezky was able to one time the ball in mid air off Mongeon’s hands into the back of the net. Lubezky’s second goal of the match looked to be the finishing touches on the tremendous game.

With Maine nearly out of chances, the Black Bears sent an onslaught of pressure on the Hartford net in the final minute of play. It looked as the Hawks would just run out the clock, but Maine was able to gain possession and send one last cross on net. With the kick sailing into the Hartford box whistles blew, signaling a penalty kick for Maine with no time remaining. The amazing turn of events led to a Daniel Florez penalty kick and a red card for a Hartford Assistant coach.

On the ensuing play a Hawks coach emerged on the field screaming at the referees. The call, which infuriated the Hartford bench ,was what Florez believes was, “Definitely the correct call on the play.” Florez finished the play off by firing a shot past Carr to even the game up with no time remaining. Florez chalked Maine’s late game heroics up to effort and not wanting to lose a key game.

Neither team was able to score during the two 10-minute overtimes. Maine ended with an 18-13 advantage in shots and the Black Bears almost won the game twice in overtime. Once, the Black Bears actually scored but the play was ruled dead as a Maine player was offsides. The second time, Germano saw a shot sail just wide.

The Black Bears are 6-7-4 on the season and 2-3-3 in America East play and remain in contention for an America East playoff berth. It was the third straight tie for Maine. The Hawks are 9-8-2 on the season and 4-3-1 in conference play. Maine will be in a must win situation when they face off against America East leader University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday. Florez believes the game will be a special day as it is also senior day and the team’s last game.

“Its going to be a really hard test against the number one team,” said Florez.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2003, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.