BALTIMORE – The Colgate men's soccer team erased a 2-0 deficit in the final 20 minutes of regulation to force overtime at top-seeded Loyola before junior
Steven DeLeo scored the game-winning goal in the 98th minute to secure a dramatic 3-2 overtime win in the Patriot League Semifinals here Friday night.
Colgate advances to the Sunday's Patriot League Championship Game and faces fifth-seeded Holy Cross. Kickoff of the championship match is slated for 3 p.m. Sunday at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex.
The Greyhounds controlled a 2-0 lead through the first 70 minutes of play before DeLeo scored Colgate's first goal in the 71st minute to cut Loyola's lead to 2-1. Sophomore
Christian Clarke tied the game at 2-2 in the 87th minute to help the Raiders force overtime before DeLeo buried the game-winner in the 98th to secure the 3-2 victory. Senior
Jared Stroud assisted on both the game-tying and game-winning goals, while sophomore keeper
Jacob Harris made six saves in goal to help lead Colgate to the semifinal victory.
The Greyhounds put Colgate in an early hole as A. Mickey Watson headed in corner kick at the 5:01 mark to give Loyola a quick 1-0 lead. Loyola controlled possession for much of the first half of the opening term, but Colgate began to pick up the pace in the 28th minute with a shot and corner kick from Stroud. Stroud had a breakaway chance a few minutes later, but Patriot League Goalkeeper and Rookie of the Year Chase Vosvick came out to stop Stroud in his tracks. The Raiders continued to pressure in the closing minutes of the first half, but the Greyhounds controlled their 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
Harris made two big saves for Colgate in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but Loyola's Josh Fawole added an insurance tally in the 62nd minute to increase the Greyhound lead to 2-0.
The Raiders began their epic comeback in the 71st minute. Sophomore
Kentaro Morrison dribbled the ball through the offensive third and into the box before threading a perfect through ball to DeLeo. DeLeo took two short touches before burying a shot right between Vosvick's legs and into the far post to pull Colgate within 2-1 with just under 20 minutes to play.
Colgate kept up the pressure with five quality shots in the next 15 minutes, but none were able to find the back of the net until Clarke stepped up to score the game-tying goal in the 87th minute. Stroud dribbled his way around the Loyola defense on the right side before sending a perfect pass to the top of the box, where Clarke rifled the ball past Vosvick to knot the score at 2-2 with less than three minutes left in regulation.
Harris and the Colgate defense made a few key stops in the final minutes, including a big goal line clearance from senior
Chase Pagani, to send the game to overtime tied at 2-2.
Both teams had a few good chances in the opening minutes of overtime, but DeLeo delivered once again in the 98th minute. Stroud found a streaking DeLeo, who finished into the lower left-hand corner to secure the 3-2 comeback victory.
BOTTOM LINE
WON-LOST RECORDS
- The Raiders improve to 9-10-1 on the season.
- Regular-season champion Loyola sees its season come to a close at 11-6-1.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- The Raiders advance to the Patriot League Championship for the second-straight season. Colgate won its sixth championship a season ago by defeating American on the Eagles' home field in the title match.
- Colgate beat Loyola in the Patriot League Semifinals for the second-straight season. The Raiders defeated the Greyhounds 3-1 in last year's semifinal matchup.
- DeLeo scored his third and fourth goals of the season.
- Stroud extended his school record with his 10th and 11th assists of the season.
- Clarke's goal marked his second of the season.
FACTS & FIGURES
- The Raiders finished the game with a 15-14 shot advantage. Loyola controlled a 5-2 edge after the first half, but Colgate out-shot the Greyhounds 13-9 in the final two periods.
- Colgate also controlled a 5-4 corner kick edge.
- Harris posted six saves against Vosvick's two.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach
Erik Ronning
- "This team has been fighting for its life for the past three weeks and there is no quit in this group. They are resilient and have faced every single situation throughout these past few weeks. I couldn't be more proud of how we fought back and stuck to what we were doing."
- "Getting that first goal certainly gave us some hope. We didn't start off the game very well. Loyola is a very good team and giving up that second goal certainly could have set us back if we didn't respond the way we did. We had nothing to lose being down 2-0 with 30 minutes left."
- "Our guys will never, ever quit. That's just a trademark of this program and speaks to the great character our guys have. We've given ourselves a chance to play for a championship. I'm excited for them and we'll get ready for Sunday."
Junior
Steven DeLeo
- "Once we got one goal back we knew we had a shot. We played a really good team, but we knew we had the experience and we've been here before. We wanted to get back to where we were and we wanted to win for our seniors, so we got it done."
- (On his game-winning goal): "Jared and I made eye contact and we both saw it. It was a perfect pass and we saw it the whole way."
- "We want another championship. It's what we've been working for this whole season."
UP NEXT
- The Raiders advance to their second-straight Patriot League Championship Game and take on No. 5 Holy Cross, who advanced on penalty kicks against No. 2 Boston University Friday night.
- Sunday's championship game is slated for a 3 p.m. start from Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex.
- Free video is available on the Patriot League Network.
