(10-17-06)
Box Score
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. -- Sophomore John Nolan (photo) scored a goal in the 66th minute as the University of New Haven men's soccer team earned a key East Coast Conference tie with Mercy College on Tuesday afternoon. The teams deadlocked at 1-1 after two overtimes. It was the team's third double overtime game in a row.
Nolan connected off a rebound at 65:14 to give New Haven (5-9-2, 4-2-2 ECC) a 1-0 lead. Justin Fernandez took a shot that couldn't be handled by the Mercy goalkeeper Carl Spence, and Nolan crashed the net and scored his first goal of the season.
Mercy (5-5-2, 3-2-2 ECC) equalized the contest at 71:15 when Quaison Carter's corner kick was headed in by Nizar Chahbani.
The teams played the the final 38 minutes, 45 seconds on Tuesday without scoring. It was a rainy day and a muddy pitch, which UNH head coach Matt Verni said made the play difficult.
"It was a messy field," Verni said, "hard to knock the ball around. We overpassed a bit at times, a lot of risk involved in passing on a sloppy field like that. We had some chances when we caught them in transition too, but couldn't get that killer shot on goal.
""I don't think we played that well," he continued, "and we gave up a bunch of good chances. I think we were fortunate to get out of there at 1-1. We scored a good goal and should have been able to settle it down at that point but didn't. Their corner kicks were dangerous. There was no motion on their corners, so it was difficult to defend because everyone is just standing around."
The tie keeps UNH ahead of Mercy by three points in the league's standings. Tuesday's match was UNH's final in ECC play, while Mercy plays C.W. Post in their season finale on Saturday with third place in the league's standings on the line.
"We just have to move forward and concentrate on our last two matches," Verni said. "And then get ready for whoever we face in the ECC Tournament."
UNH closes out the regular season with a pair of non-conference matches this weekend, hosting American International College on Thursday at 3:00 before a Senior Day showdown with Post University on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
