DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Men's Soccer celebrated senior night on Friday night in style, with a stunning comeback after being down with six minutes left to defeat the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish at Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.
ERAU (4-9-2, 1-8-1 Sunshine State Conference) trailed most of the game after a first-half goal by PBA (6-8-2, 3-6-1 SSC), but three goals in the final five minutes of the game gave their seniors an appropriate sendoff.
The Eagles had a scoring chance in the 19th minute, but the shot went high, keeping the score at 1-0.
The Sailfish had their own opportunity to go up 1-0 thwarted, as by a great kick save by sophomore goalkeeper
Salvatore della Valle stopped the ball from going in.
Palm Beach Atlantic gained the lead in the 36th minute, capitalizing on a corner kick to score.
This scoreline held until halftime, with Palm Beach Atlantic outshooting Embry-Riddle nine to one in the first half.
During halftime, seniors
Stefano Grimaldi,
Konstantin Kosoric and
Seth Conway were honored in an on-field ceremony.
After a quieter second half, a PBA foul gave ERAU a set piece opportunity in the 85th minute. Junior defender/midfielder
Cambell Young sent in a cross, and freshman forward
Jacob Callahan headed it into the back of the net, tying the match up at 1-1.
Then in the 90th minute, after a long pass by Young, Callahan took the ball towards the right side of the box, and sent in a cross that met forward/midfielder
Sandro Henning, who turned it in to put the Eagles up 2-1 with 51 seconds to go.
Not finished, junior midfielder
Anthony Velez collected a cross from Callahan before sending it back to him, as he put it in the net just 25 seconds later for his sixth goal of the season to make the final score 3-1.
After being outshot nine to one in the first half, the Eagles won the shots battle five to three in the second half.
Crucial to the win for the Eagles was the performance of della Valle, making six saves to secure the win for Embry-Riddle.
That wraps up the season for ERAU, doubling their win total for the previous year, as they will look to continue to rack up more wins in 2024.
The 2023 Embry-Riddle men's soccer season is presented by Radiology Associates.
