DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? The Embry-Riddle and Northwood men's soccer teams battled hard for 110 minutes, but neither side was able to break a 2-2 deadlock in Florida Sun Conference action on Friday night. Both teams were fairly evenly matched throughout the contest with ERAU (1-1-2) putting up 17 shots to Northwood's (1-0-1) 14.
The Eagles got on the board first with a Joe Yoffe goal 15:14 into the match. The play started in the middle of the park with Carl Sheard who played a ball to AJ Barrett on the right side. Barrett blew by his defender into the penalty area and played a square ball to Yoffe in the six-yard box. Yoffe tapped in his fourth goal of the year to put the Eagles up by a goal at the half.
The second half started off with Northwood stepping up its offensive pressure. ERAU netminder Viktor Bergstrand came up with some big saves, but the Seahawks finally broke through 11 minutes into the half. Bergstrand got a hand to Fredrik Elgstrom's shot from the right side, but the loose ball fell to Jere Kolhemainen who tied the game in the 59th minute and the Seahawks took the lead nine minutes later when Niklas Rantanen's deft touch found Baldvin Olafsson in front of the net.
The Seahawks' fortunes changed in the 68th minute when Joonas Siikala received his second yellow card, forcing Northwood to play a man down for the remainder of the match.
The one-man advantage seemed to spark the Eagle offense into action as over the next nine minutes they took four shots and three corner kicks.
With 12 minutes remaining in regulation, Yoffe received the ball just outside the 18-yard box and played it into Matthias Klatt who chipped it over advancing Northwood keeper Lars Lundgren to send the game into overtime.
Both teams created opportunities in the 20 minutes of overtime, but neither team could find the back of the net again, thanks, in part, to solid defending on both sides.
Bergstrand finished with five saves on the night, while Lundgren pulled in eight saves for the Seahawks.
The Eagles take a one-week break before returning the pitch at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 when they host conference opponent St. Thomas at the ERAU Soccer Stadium.
