Box Score Boxscore
PURCHASE, N.Y. – Manhattanville men's soccer freshman
Yani Quinteros (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd) scored 6:31 into the second overtime period to give the Valiants a 2-1 victory over the Eastern Eagles on Saturday afternoon at GoValiants.com Field. For Quinteros, it is his not only his fourth goal of the season but also his fourth game-winning marker of the season.
The two teams struggled to get any consistent offensive possessions through the first 35 minutes of the contest until a corner kick taken by Eastern at the 34:50 mark that was possessed the Valiants. Junior defender Marco Blasetti (Yonkers, N.Y./Rye Country Day) took a pass around midfield and made a run down the far sideline before crossing it into the box where sliding senior Keston George (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago/Victory Christian Academy) could have had his ninth goal of the season had it not been tipped in off of an Eagle defender for an own goal.
The Valiants happily took the lead handed to them by their opponents into the halftime break. After the intermission, Manhattanville had a great scoring opportunity when the ball was headed just over the crossbar by sophomore Kyle Cassidy (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel) off of a corner kick by senior Adam Kent (London, England/Sutton Grammar).
The two sides continued to struggle to keep any pace on offense until a costly foul on Manhattanville gave Eastern a free kick opportunity that was booted by Jair Saenz and ricocheted off the inside of the left post and into the waiting hands of Valiant graduate goalkeeper Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison). After the ball was initially ruled “no-goal" by the referee for having not crossed the plane entirely, the call was reversed and the game was tied at one.
The final 12:10 ticked off the clock with the two teams deadlocked at one, sending the game to extra time. During the first overtime period, Eastern controlled most of the play, taking four shots while the Valiants had none.
After 100:00 minutes of play the two teams went to a second and final overtime period that was mostly dominated by the Valiants. Junior Eros Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) took a shot to open the period that was saved by Eagle netminder Jon Crowder, and moments later classmate Edmond Addison (Accra, Ghana/Lincoln (N.Y.)) took a shot of his own that was blocked by the Eagle defense and out of bounds off of the endline.
The ensuing corner kick by Kent was placed perfectly towards the center of the box where Quinteros was able to get a head on it and put it into the back of the goal for the overtime winner. The freshman has now scored two game-winning overtime goals this year, including the only other time the Valiants faced extra time this season against Vassar at part of the 2011 Valiant Classic.
Torres finished the game with three saves while collecting his 10th win of the season. Falling to 8-5-1 was Crowder, who made six saves in his strong effort.
Shots on goal were in favor of the Valiants at a 12-9 edge at the end of regulation, with the overtime totals in favor of Eastern 4-3. Manhattanville doubled up the opponents' shots on goal for the entire contest at an 8-4 margin. Corner kicks were even at seven apiece.
Manhattanville (12-3, 4-1 Freedom) has a quick turnaround when they travel to Delaware Valley on Monday for the make-up date against the Aggies that was postponed earlier in the week. With a win on Monday, the Valiants could clinch a Freedom Conference Championship berth. Eastern (9-5-2, 5-1 Freedom) will be back on the pitch on Wednesday against non-conference opponent Penn State-Abington at 7:00 p.m.
