September 1, 2009

Tiger men earn double overtime tie in season opener

In what was a hard fought battle, the Cowley College men’s soccer team rallied to force overtime against Allen County in its season opener played Monday in Arkansas City. The game would feature two overtimes and end in a 3-3 tie.

Trailing 3-2 with less than 13 minutes remaining, Cowley’s Austin Sacket went up high to receive a centering pass from Dayton Rodrigues and headed the ball past Red Devil goalie Zack Hanks to tie the game at 3-3 with 12:38 remaining.

Sacket, who is only 5-feet-7, made a tremendous play in heading the ball in for the tying goal.

“That was certainly an uplifting goal,” Cowley head coach Roberto Dos Santos said. “He is a leader on our team and serves as an inspiration.”

The game would remain deadlocked at the end of regulation as the teams would then endure two 10-minute overtime sessions before the game concluded in a tie.

“The guys kept applying pressure on them and showed good conditioning,” Dos Santos said.

The game was played in front of a full grandstand as the Tiger fans came out in full support of their team.
However, things got off to a rocky start as Cowley trailed 1-0 after Allen County’s Derek Hayes scored off a free kick less than four minutes into the contest. Cowley rallied to tie the game on Joao Bacchi’s goal on a penalty kick with 25:38 left in the opening half.

Cowley would then grab the lead on Nick Sobba’s goal with 11:27 remaining before halftime. However, Cowley would lose one of its top players in the first half in midfielder Lucas Coelho, who along with Allen County’s Chris Villatoro would be issue red cards for an altercation. Both players will miss the next two games due to the skirmish.

Allen County tied the game on Zach Doolan’s goal less than three minutes into the second half and regained the lead on a goal by Josh Hardy with 26:16 remaining. Thus setting the stage for Sacket’s game tying goal.

Freshman Walisson Gomes had four shots on goal in his Tiger debut as Cowley out-shot Allen County 14-7.

Cowley will have some time off before hosting Northern Oklahoma College Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.
“We need to work on dictating the rhythm of the game,” Dos Santos said. “Northern Oklahoma always has a competitive, strong squad.”