For the second consecutive season, the Berkeley College New York men's soccer team, and the Defenders of Clarks Summit University played to a tie, as the two squads battled through 110 minutes before managing a 3-3 output. With the tie, the Knights are now unbeaten in four straight matches, and sit at 4-3-1 on the season. Clarks Summit University is now 1-5-1 on the 2019 campaign.
The Defenders dominated the action early. In the eighth minute of play (at 7:15), Jan Rodriguez slashed a ball into the bottom corner of the net, completing a beautiful combination play. Tommy Peifer and Nathaniel Johnson were credited with assists on the beautiful goal. Just 8:30 later, at 15:45, Clarks Summit University increased its edge to 2-0 when Caleb Holloman bended the ball into the corner.
Clarks Summit University continued to press offensively in this one, eventually upping its lead to a commanding 3-0 margin when Rodriguez found the net again, this time capitalizing on a rebound opportunity. The match appeared to be getting away from Berkeley College in the early stages, but the Knights, just as they did in the match against Penn State Brandywine back on August 30, battled back in a big way.
The Knights were able to score two goals within 10:06 to fight its way back into the contest. At 27:44, an unassisted goal by Carlos Veliz slashed the Defenders advantage to 3-1. Later, at 37:50, Amadou Sy scored on a volley off of a corner kick to pull Berkeley to within a goal at 3-2. The score would remain that way as the opening stanza came to a close.
Late in the second half, with just 70 seconds remaining, Sy would score his second goal of the match, and his fifth goal in Berkeley's last two matches, to tie the score. The Knights had been pushing and putting pressure on Clarks Summit University the entire second session, and it finally paid off when Sy was able to bury the equalizer with time winding down.
In overtime, neither side had many scoring opportunities, as fatigue clearly became a factor. Several controversial calls raised the intensity of the match, and despite the incredible energy of the overtime periods, neither team was able to record the game-winner, as the contest ended in a 3-all tie.
Clarks Summit University out-shot Berkeley by a count of 15-11 for the match. The Knights earned 11 corner kick opportunities compared to seven for the opposition, and Berkeley committed 15 fouls to the Defenders nine.
The Knights will look to extend their unbeaten streak to five matches on Wednesday afternoon, as they'll take to the road to battle Vassar College. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 4:00pm. Those hoping to following live stats and/or video can do so by clicking the links below:
Berkeley College at Vassar College live stats:
https://www.vassarathletics.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
Berkeley College at Vassar College live video:
