MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 12 seed Embry-Riddle men's soccer team ended its 2013 season in heartbreaking fashion, tying No. 5 seed Rio Grande 1-1 but getting knocked out of the NAIA National Tournament in penalty kicks 6-5 in Montgomery, Ala. on Tuesday.
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After two 10 minute overtime periods, and the game still knotted at 1-1 the game moved into a shootout. The Eagles and RedStorm both went back-and-forth with each converting on the first five penalty kicks. The game then moved into sudden death penalty kicks, ERAU senior
Nicklas Petersson took the first shot and barely missed the upper-right hand corner. Rio Grande's Callum Cobb then stepped up and knocked in a penalty kick past the reach of keeper
Nils Carlson. With that the RedStorm advances to the Quarterfinals of the National Tournament, and Embry-Riddle heads home after a successful 2013 season.
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With rain pouring down, the game started out with both teams playing very physical soccer and putting a ton of pressure on both of the defenses. In the 15th minute, the RedStorm forced back-to-back corner kicks. The Eagles' backline held strong on the first, but the RedStorm regained possession of the ball outside the penalty box on the right side of the pitch after the second corner. A Rio Grande forward sailed a shot towards Carlson who came off his line to make the save, but the ball slipped out of his hands in the wet conditions and went past him to where Rio Grande's Pau Delgado Rodriguez happened to be standing right in front of the goal. Delgado turned and put the ball in the net for an easy goal off the Eagle mistake to put the RedStorm up 1-0.
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Two minutes later Petersson gained possession of the ball and raced down the right side before sending a perfect cross to the left side of the field to
Erik Norburg. Norburg took a dribble then glanced up at the goal and assessed his options. The senior fooled the Rio Grande defenders and fired a shot on frame from over 20 yards out. The ball found the back of the net to tie the game at one a piece.
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In the 36th minute, ERAU had its best chance to take the lead.
Veit Couturier took the ball right up the middle of the Rio Grande defense dribbling around four defenders single-handedly. Once inside the box, Couturier was brought down by a RedStorm and the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick. Couturier took the penalty kick but it just barely missed the upper-right hand corner of the goal to keep the score tied at 1-1.
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It was even play in the rest of the first half with the score tied, the goalies with two saves a piece in the half and each team with six shots. The second half brought more rain and in total the Eagles had three shots on frame and eight shots in all, while the RedStorm had 14 shots total with only two on frame. The game headed into overtime with the score still tied 1-1, after neither team could find the back of the net in the second half.
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In the 97th minute of the game Petersson took a corner kick for ERAU and crossed the ball perfectly in front of the net.
Marcus Starke got his head on the ball a little but his shot just missed the goal to the left. On the other end, Carlson recorded his fifth save of the game with a minute to go in the first overtime after a strike by Louis Filho.
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The game then moved into double overtime and the urgency was felt by both teams as the Eagles recorded three shots and the RedStorm took two shots. After another perfect corner by Petersson,
Alan Vezza turned and fired a shot on frame but it was blocked to keep the score tied 1-1 and force the game into penalty kicks where the RedStorm advanced 6-5.
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The game marks Embry-Riddle's first draw in two years, and the Eagles finish the 2013 campaign with a 14-3-1 record. Rio Grande advances to the Quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament to face No. 4 seed Ashford Wednesday at 11 a.m.
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Eight seniors will graduate this year and end stellar ERAU careers, including
Ally MacDonald, Vezza,
Jacob Stevenback,
Viktor Gudnason, Norburg,
Luis Velasquez and Petersson.Â
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