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| Ever Guevera Alvarez (#0) can't stop Jose Herrera's first half PK |
From our friends at UDC Athletics...
Firebirds Suffer 2-1 Overtime Heartbreaker to Dowling in Season Finale; Denied ECC Tournament Berth
Needing a tie or a victory in their season finale at home to secure a place in the program's first East Coast Conference Championship Tournament, the Firebirds surrendered a game-winning goal to Dowling in the 3rd minute of overtime to lose, 2-1 on a frigid and windy Saturday night at Long Bridge Park.
With the loss, the Firebirds (5-5 ECC, 9-7-1 overall) are eliminated from ECC Tournament contention, as Dowling improved to 7-3 in league play (10-5-2 overall) and locked up the No. 3 seed. In other ECC action earlier this afternoon, Molloy tied Bridgeport, 1-1, edging out UDC for the No. 4 seed with a record of 5-4-1 despite going win-less in its final four games.
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| Felix Angerer led UDC with 7 shots |
Dowling more than doubled-up UDC in shots (27-13) and had a distinct advantage in corner kicks (12-2). The Golden Lions struck first with a penalty kick goal by Jose Herrera in the 38th minute. Having out-shot UDC 13-7, Dowling took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
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| Nenad Smiljanic's 8th goal tied the game at 1-1 |
Nearly eight minutes into the second half, sophomore midfielder Nenad Smiljanic (Health Education - Barnsley, England/Barnsley College) finished off a rebound from a shot by Felix Angerer (Business Administration – Bayreuth, Germany/Graj Minster Gymnasium Bayreuth) to even the score at 1-apiece. Again, Dowling had a decisive edge in shots (12-6) in the second half, putting three on goal, but sophomore goalkeeper Ever Guevera Alvarez (Electrical Engineering - Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge Senior HS) stopped all three to force overtime.
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| Hassirou Diakite (#6) battles for position |
Just 2:24 into the overtime session, Kevin Diaz followed a saved Philip Svensson shot and fired it into the back of the net for the game-winner.
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| Frosh Max Coveney (#5) |
Alvarez (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season as UDC goalkeeper despite being in double-figures in saves (10) for a second consecutive game. Dowling's Chris Friedl made four saves and allowed just one goal in the win.
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| Junior Elio Hernandez (#8) |
With this loss, the season comes to an end, but not before the Firebirds attained the program's highest number of wins in a season (nine) since 2004. Also, junior goalkeeper Louis Connor (Health Education - Birmingham, England/Arthur Terry School) set the 3rd-highest mark in program history for saves in a season with 73 despite missing the final three games.
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| Soph Flavio Macedo (#12) |
Click here for last night's box score.
