Men's Soccer and Lesley Battle to 1-1 Double-Overtime Draw

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's soccer team played to a double-overtime draw with visiting Lesley University, 1-1, in a New England Collegiate Conference match at Lear Field Saturday afternoon. 

The Blazers best opportunity of the first half came in the ninth minute as freshman midfielder CJ Dabkowski (Bristol, Conn.) launched a corner kick to the far post, where junior midfielder Lorenzo Rolocut (Somers, Conn.) elevated over Lesley defenders, but his header rang of the right post. The match remained scoreless throughout the first half, and a late red card on Lynx sophomore forward Mahmoud Chabarek (Allepo, Syria) put the Lynx down a player for the remainder of the contest.

With 24:41 to play, Elms had another opportunity to dent the scoreboard as junior defender Brendan Reynolds (Springfield, Mass.) gathered a loose ball and fired on frame, but Lesley junior goalkeeper Chris Donley (Elizabethtown, Pa.) made a diving save to preserve the scoreless game.

In the 70^th minute of play, Elms broke through as junior defender Connor O'Grady (Somers, Conn.) played a ball to the side of the box, where Rolocut lofted a cross to the far post, and senior forward Joseph Coleman (Easthampton, Mass.) delivered the brilliant finish with a sliding volley into the back of the net, giving the Blazers a 1-0 advantage. 

The Lynx knotted the score with 13:16 as junior forward Walker Panek (Carlsbad, Calif.) played a corner kick into the box, where sophomore defender Billy Baker (Sacramento, Calif.) knocked the ball down, turned and fired on goal where his attempt ricocheted off an Elms defender and rolled past junior goalie Nick Pennant (St. Andrew, Jamaica) to make it a 1-1 game. The contest headed to overtime, knotted at 1-1.

The lone scoring chance of the overtime periods came in the final seconds of the first overtime as a ball was played up to Lesley junior Ryan Richardson (Santa Barbara, Calif.) who had aa clear shot to the goal, but Pennant made an acrobatic to the far top corner, to preserve the eventual 1-1 draw.

The Blazers edged the Lynx in the shot column, 26-11, during the conference battle. Pennant made three saves for Elms, while Donley stopped a match-high 10 shots for Lesley.

Elms moved to 7-6-3 overall, and 4-0-1 in the NECC, while Lesley moved to 7-5-4, and 3-1-2 in NECC play. The Blazers return to the pitch in their home finale against Becker College Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Lesley host Mitchell College on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER