Men's Soccer Plays Wilmington to a 1-1 Draw
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack men's soccer team recorded its second tie of the 2011 campaign with a 1-1 result against Wilmington Saturday evening at Warrior Field. The Warriors move to 1-1-2 on the season while the Wildcats progress to 0-2-2 overall.
Wilmington netted the game's opening goal in the 28th minute as Eddie Kowalo headed in a corner kick by Kresimir Nurnberger.
The Warriors responded with a tally by Matt McFadden (New Hampton, NH) in the 37th minute to knot the game at 1-1. Merrimack earned a free kick just outside of the penalty box and Victor Plaza (Jundiai, Brazil) sent a direct shot around the wall towards the lower right corner of the frame. The Wildcats' goalkeeper stopped the shot but was unable to control the rebound, allowing McFadden to dart in and bury the ball.
At the midway point of the match, the Warriors held an 8-4 advantage in shots and 4-2 edge in corner kicks.
In the second half, Merrimack had a number of quality scoring opportunities. In the 61st minute, Michael Rincon (Medford, MA) unleashed a one-time shot from 25 yards out that was handled by the visiting goalkeeper. Just 15 minutes later, Nicholas LoCoco (Gloucester, MA) headed the ball just wide of the frame as he latched onto a corner kick by Plaza.
The two teams were at a stalemate at the conclusion of 90 minutes, forcing the game to overtime. The Warriors owned a 12-8 gap in shots through regulation.
Franklin Pena (San Salvador, El Salvador) and Robbie Sabadoz (Ottawa, Ontario) registered Merrimack's two shots in the first extra session.
In the second overtime period, Rincon had a chance to seal a victory in the 107th minute. The rookie's diving header inside the six-yard box sailed over the crossbar.
The Warriors led the Wildcats in shots 16-9 while also earning seven corners and allowing five.
Mattias Drummond (Partille, Sweden) made three saves in goal for the hosts. Spyros Stergiotis turned aside five shots for Wilmington on the day.
"I thought that we did a great job of bouncing back after they scored and getting a goal ourselves," said head coach Tony Martone. "Our chances were there and we just need to do a better job of finishing."
The Warriors take to the road for the first time this season as they travel to Southern NH for Northeast-10 Conference battle September 14 at 7 pm.
