Wilmington, Del. - #5 Georgian Court University advanced to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Men's Soccer Championship Tournament semifinals in epic fashion Monday as the Lions defeated #4 Goldey-Beacom College on the road via shootout, advancing GCU to Friday's final four in Waterbury, Conn.
The contest opened inauspiciously for the Lions as the Lightning struck almost immediately when an
Eduardo Coimbra (So.-Curitiba, Brazil) tally put the home team ahead just 4:45 into the match.
Josh Moody (So.-Townsend, Del.) followed with his fifth of the season to create a seemingly comfortable 2-0 surplus for Goldey-Beacom.
Coming out of intermission, GCU appeared to be making ground as
Louis Silva netted his second goal in as many games to make the score 2-1 GBC at 52:14. The Lions' euphoria lasted exactly 2:14 as a Goldey-Beacom score from
Jamie McAvoy (Sr.-Ayr, Scotland) provided the Lightning its second two-tally surplus of the afternoon.
With time running out on GCU, the Lions cut the GBC lead to 3-2 as a
Luca Schad feed found the boot of fellow countryman,
Niklas Laenger, who promptly fired in his first of the season (67:36).
Javel Dawkins, the reigning CACC Player of the Week, knocked in his unthinkable seventh penalty kick of the year to knot the score at 3-all.
Thinking they finally commandeered the momentum, the Lightning again kicked the Georgian Court confidence to the sideline as
Sergi Varona (Jr.-Barcelona, Spain) banged in a shot inside the left post to put the homers ahead, 4-3, with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation (80:49).
Having just 9:11 left in the match (and potentially the season), it would be Dawkins to the rescue once again as the senior deflected in his second score of the day (ninth of season) just 54 seconds later (81:43) to secure the stalemate and force extra time.Â
After 20 minutes of scoreless overtime, which saw the Lions rip nine shot attempts (vs. one for Goldey-Beacom) a shootout would be needed to determine the victor.
The Lions, in their first shootout since defeating Post University in the 2016 title game, made only one of their first five attempts. The Lightning matched GCU with a make and four misses. The foes then proceeded to net four straight efforts each. A
Francisco Corral smash made gave his squad a 5-4 advantage, with GBC owning one more effort, which was unsuccessful.
GCU now advances to the CACC semifinals for the second time in as many seasons ( third in program history) where they will take on #1 Wilmington University Friday at 11:00 a.m. at Municipal Stadium. The Wildcats held off #8 Concordia College, 7-4, to move on. The Lions dropped an 8-1 decision to Wilmington, then ranked #18 in the nation, when they last faced off on Sept. 24 in Lakewood.
#2 Post University and #3 Holy Family University will meet in the second semifinal contest, starting at 1:00 p.m.
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