No. 25 Men's Soccer Plays to 1-1 Draw With Le Moyne
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After both teams were held scoreless in the first 82 minutes of action, the No. 25 Merrimack men's soccer team and Le Moyne combined to score the game's only two goals – one apiece – in the last seven minutes of regulation, as the Warriors were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Dolphins in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.
Seeing their seven-game winning streak come to an end, the Warriors remained unbeaten in their last eight games while moving to 9-2-2 on the year with a 7-2-1 mark in league play. The Dolphins, meanwhile, saw their record change to 5-7-1 overall and 4-5-1 within the conference.
After tallying the game-winning goal last Saturday in the Warriors' 1-0 win against Assumption, freshman Ronald Ried (Schwendi, Germany) provided the heroics once again for Merrimack, which trailed by a goal in the 84th minute until the rookie back tallied the equalizer with 3:13 to play.
Despite commanding both halves with a dominant shot advantage, the Warriors were held in check by Le Moyne goalkeeper Matthew Silva (seven saves), and finally – in the 84th minute – the home team went ahead as Casey Murphy took a pass from Emmanuel Chanelo and blasted a shot underneath the crossbar to put the Dolphins up by a goal with just more than five minutes to play.
Determined not to let a heralded unbeaten streak come to an end, Ried notched his second collegiate goal in as many games – a penalty kick goal – in the 87th minute to tie the match at 1-1 and send the game to overtime.
With a season record of 4-1-1 in extra time, the Warriors and Dolphins continued to battle in both sudden-death periods, as Matthew Silva again came up big with two saves combined in overtime.
The Warriors attempted two shots over both overtime sessions but could not come up with a late game-winner, snapping a streak of four consecutive overtime games that ended in a Merrimack win. Eventually, both sides would settle for the draw and both earn a valuable point in the conference standings.
"Well, we knew that at some point our overtime streak had to come to an end," head coach Tony Martone said afterward. "I've got to be happy in just being to get out of here with a point after missing so many opportunities and letting up that late goal. We've got a few games to go and some more things to work on, but this is always a tough place to play for us and I'm happy to at least get the tie."
The Warriors commanded play by virtue of their 24-8 advantage in shot attempts – including a 12-2 edge in the first half alone. Merrimack also dominated in corner kicks, earning all six attempts in the game, but in the end, Matthew Silva wound up being the difference for the Dolphins; the keeper finished with seven saves and benefitted from a team save, as well.
Merrimack sophomore Jose Silva (Northborough, Mass.) turned aside one shot for the visitors in the second half, while both teams combined for 31 fouls.
Ried and senior back Alejandro Fuchs (Caracas, Venezuela) shared the team lead in shots on goal with two apiece, while senior Franklin Lemus Pena (Revere, Mass.) and rookie Douglas Searl (Westfield, Mass.) booted a team-high four shot attempts apiece.
Next up, the Warriors continue their road stand with a match at conference foe Bentley on Saturday, Oct. 20. First whistle is set for 12 p.m.
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