Kurt Olsen scored his second goal of the contest with 55 seconds remaining in double overtime to give the United States Merchant Marine Academy a 3-2 (2OT) victory over the Manhattanville men’s soccer team on Wednesday evening at Brooks Stadium.
The Mariners got on the board in the seventh minute as Logan Becker headed in a corner kick sent from Casey Desiderio. The Valiants answered back to tie the contest at 1-1 in the 42nd minute, when the team was awarded a penalty kick after a handball in the box. George picked the left side of the net to cash in on his first tally of the night. USMMA finished with a 5-4 edge in shots after the first 45 minutes.
Merchant Marine regained the lead in the 67th minute on their second successful corner kick as Desiderio once again sent a kick to Becker, who found Olsen at the far post to take the 2-1 lead. But two minutes later, the Valiants tied the contest once again on George’s second PK goal of the contest. Manhattanville outshot the Mariners in the second half, 7-4, as the visiting team has possession for a majority of the half.
With the contest tied headed into overtime, the Mariners put pressure on senior netminder Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y.), as the only shot on goal of the first 10 minutes of extra time was taken by Desiderio.
The second half of extra time saw a little more action, as a caution card was assessed to each team and Desiderio had one of the two shots on target that Torres faced. After a foul by the Valiants in the defensive third, Desiderio sent a free kick to the net where Olsen beat Torres to the far side to finish the contest.
Manhattanville (4-3, 0-0 Freedom) will begin the Freedom Conference portion of their schedule with a road game at DeSales University at 3:30 p.m. Merchant Marine (7-0-1) will travel to Catholic University on Saturday for a noon kick-off.