Cambridge, Mass— The Lesley University Men's soccer team secured the 4-3 victory in overtime over visitor Elms College Saturday afternoon. The NECC match up proved to be a back and forth scoring contest with seven goals in the match. With the win, Lesley improves to 6-6-1 overall and 2-1 in conference. The Lynx gave the Blazers their first loss in NECC play (2-1) and drop to 4-10 overall.
A pretty even battle for the first half left the game tied at the end of the first forty give minutes. Despite the Lynx holding the advantage in both shots and corners, they could not connect on either end.
The second half proved much more excitement for both squads starting with the Blazers. They struck for three goals in six minutes to secure a 3-0 lead eight minutes into the half. Shaquille Robinson and CJ Dabkowski displayed some quick one time passing and connected with Babba Jaden for a header into the back of the net. John Dunphy then scored two unassisted goals in two minutes, one by header and the other off a goalie miscue to give Elms the 3-0 advantage.
Lesley found their way back from a three goal deficit to force the game into overtime. The Lynx scored their first goal in the 66th minute when Shane Rockenback (Long Beach, CA) crossed a ball to the center and found Beowulf Urban (Blue Hills, ME) for the goal. The Lesley bench proved to give the Lynx the momentum they needed for the remainder of the match.
Senior Nuno Pereira (Sao Filipe, Fogo, Cape Verde) then notched two goals in two minutes to cap the scoring in regulation and give Lesley the momentum going into overtime. Andrew Medeiros (Bristol, RI) chipped a ball into the middle where Pereira then lifted it over the goalie. Minutes later Pereira beat the Blazer's defense on a loose ball and tapped it past a charging goalie on a break away.
"Great efforts by Nuno Pereira, Enzo Bertolotti, and Andrew Merdeiros to come in and really turn it around after we scored that first goal," said head coach James Costa. "We started to believe that we could do it, and we did it. It was a great win."
Lesley capitalized on a free kick four minutes into overtime to claim the victory. Senior Anthony Vitta (Oceanside, NY) sent the free kick in from left center where Sophomore Tiago Pacheco (Cranston, RI) raced to the loose ball and blasted it in.
Lesley looks to continue its winning ways in conference when they host Becker College on Tuesday evening.
