CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Lesley University men's soccer team played to a double-overtime 1-1 draw with host Elms College in a New England Collegiate Conference match at Lear Field Saturday afternoon. The Lynx moved to 7-5-4 and 3-1-2 in NECC play while Elms moved to 7-6-3-1 overall, and 4-0-1 in the NECC.
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 red card put the Lynx down a player for the remainder of the contest.
In the 70th 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 where it would remain as the match rolled into overtime.
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 tip 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 career-high 10 shots for Lesley.
The Lynx will return to play on Wednesday as they play host to Mitchell College 8:00 p.m. while the Blazers return to the pitch in their home finale against Becker College Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.