Story courtesy of Rob Palardy, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - In a rematch of last season's New England Collegiate Conference Championship match, the Lesley University men's soccer team (10-2-2) defeated Becker College (2-11-1) 3-2 thanks to a game-winning goal in the 104th minute by Lynx freshman Ari Sinanis (GUILFORD, Conn./Guilford).
Sina nis used his head to redirect a pass from fellow freshman Connor Stockton (QUOGUE, N.Y./Westhampton Beach) past Hawks keeper Aaron Fill (LADNER, British Columbia/Delta) for the game-winning goal. It was Sinanis' third game-winner of the season and his sixth goal of the season.
The match started off with a scoreless first half as Lesley outshot Becker 20-7 but failed to put the ball into the back of the net.
The Lynx finally earned a 1-0 lead on a Darius Koep (PITTSTOWN, N.J./Del-Val) header in the 57th minute, assisted by Woody Davidson (KEESEVILLE, N.Y./AuSable Valley Central) who sent a cross into the box.
Becker responded under two minutes later as Solomon Obeng (Ghana/Anglican) received a lead pass from Ryan Nagel (GRISWOLD, Conn./Griswold) and chipped a shot over Lesley keeper Zachary Almeida-Beers (REHOBOTH, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) who was quickly approaching. It was Obeng's first goal of the season.
The Hawks struck again at 72:32 as Steve Araujo (WESTPORT, Mass./Westport) streaked down the left side of the field and beat Almeida-Beers to give Becker the 2-1 advantage. Ryan Singh (ELMONT, N.Y./Kellenberg) assisted on the play.
Down a goal, the Lynx seemed destined to have their six-match unbeaten streak broken but with 51 seconds remaining in regulation, Koep headed a cross pass from Scott Wheeler (EAST HAMPTON, Conn./East Hampton) that deflected off of a defender and rolled past the keeper to tie the match 2-2.
Both teams survived the first overtime, but Sinanis delivered Lesley their 10th victory of the season with the double overtime winner.
There were four yellow cards and one red card handed out in the match. The red card was given to Singh from Becker which forced the Hawks to play with just ten field players for much of the overtime periods.
Lesley next travels to Newbury College on Tuesday, October 13 for a 3:00 pm match. Becker visits Worcester State on October 14 for a match starting at 7:00 pm.
To learn more about the Lesley University men's soccer program, please visit their website.