Men's Soccer Tops Foresters in Double OT
October 03, 2009
Taylor University sophomore Tyler Beachler provided a dramatic conclusion to the Trojans' 2-1 double overtime victory vs. Huntington in men's soccer action Saturday afternoon.
Coming off two consecutive losses including Wednesday's downer against conference foe Marian University, the Trojans were desperate for a victory vs. the 8-4 Foresters, who had yet to win a league match.
The tables took a significant turn against the Trojans just six minutes into the match when leading goal scorer Tyler Beachler went down with an injury after a kick to the head.
Huntington took control from there dominating the ball for much of the first half and outshooting the Trojans 6-3, a trend that has plagued Taylor for much of the season.
"I don't know if it's because we're young and our guys haven't figured out that we have to come out right away," head coach Gary Ross said. "It's definitely something we need to improve on."
Taylor was able to force two shots on goal in the first stanza but Huntington countered with four corner kicks to Taylor's zero. The defenses stood strong forcing a 0-0 tie at halftime.
Continuing without the services of Beachler, the Trojans became the aggressors in the second frame with sophomore Eric Salley netting his first collegiate goal in the 49th minute. Salley is in his first season on the soccer team after kicking for the Trojan football team as a freshman.
With momentum clearly on Taylor's side the Foresters didn't help their cause when Kurt Sanders picked up his second yellow card of the match nine minutes later, forcing Huntington to play the remainder of the game a man down.
It did not deter the HU squad, however.
"Sometimes when a team plays with a man down they play a little bit harder and take more risks," Ross observed.
Less than seven minutes later Huntington's George Halim offered the Foresters' biggest threat of the game to that point with a shot that nicked off the bottom of the crossbar. Taylor escaped unblemished until Adam McLaughlin made the nightmare come true.
In the 70th minute McLaughlin dribbled left and shot right to net the tying goal off an assist from Taylor Zeman.
"We shouldn't have given up the goal that we did," Ross said. "You have to tip your hat to Huntington. They played very hard."
The Trojan faithful could not help but think of a storybook ending when Beachler returned in the 84th minute. It took nearly 20 minutes to come true, but the Elgin, Ill., native capped off the happy ending when he found the back of the net in the second overtime for his 11th goal of the season.
Joel Ritz assisted both goals on the afternoon pushing his team-leading total to four.
Josh Giuliano recorded three saves.
The win improves the Trojans to 5-7 on the season and 2-1 in the MCC. Taylor takes to the road on Tuesday when they travel to the University of Saint Francis for a 4:30 p.m. match.