NEWBERRY — Thanks to a late push by the Trojans (4-5-1, 0-5-1), Wednesday afternoon’s conference match ended in a 3-3 tie after two overtime periods.
The Wolves (3-6-1, 1-4-1) seemed to be well on their way to their second conference win of the season after a scored free kick by Claus Simonsen in the 72nd minute put Newberry up 3-0.
Timo Hermmann answered the call for the Trojans scoring the next two goals less than five minutes later. A late rush by Anderson and a header from Hermmann put Cameron Emerson with the ball right in front of the goal, as the Trojans tied the game in the 90th minute.
“Gutwrenching performance,” stated Newberry head coach Bryce Cooper. “When you go up on any team 3-0, you expect to close it out. We lacked the discipline and composure to finish the game, and it’s hard to win when you give up 30 shots in a game, period. We just have to correct some things defensively and hopefully learn from it because that was about as low as it gets. Kudos to Anderson for not giving up and continuing to push forward.”
Anderson carried over their momentum into the first overtime period hitting the crossbar twice. And then, the whistle blew. A penalty kick for the Trojans with just eight second left remaining on the clock.
Josh Calabria stepped up to take the kick with everyone on the edge of their seats.
Diving to his right, Brad Dixon batted the ball away, as he came up with arguably his best save of the year to keep the score tied. The South Atlantic Conference saves leader ended the match with six saves, as only nine of the 30 Trojan shots were on goal.
The Wolves’ were given a penalty kick of their own in the 24th minute after freshman Eric Brody was tripped in the box by an Anderson defender. Brody banged home the penalty kick to record his first goal of the season.
In the 30th minute, Quintin Eisner added his second goal of the season on a rifle from the top left of the box. Daniel Reyes was credited with an assist as his pass from the other side of the box found Eisner’s feet in stride. Reyes ended the match with two shots, and eight other Wolves’ added a shot apiece.
In a hard fought game that brought a whopping total of 52 fouls, four yellow cards were given to the Trojans and two were charged to the Wolves.
Newberry will host the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial on Oct 8 at Smith Road Complex. Kick-off is at 3:30 p.m.