PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's men's soccer team suffered an overtime heartbreaker as LIU came away with a 1-0 win at Sweeney Field on Sunday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• After a quiet early portion of the match, Saint Joseph's (0-2-0) settled in and took control of the run of play. The Hawks ended the first half with a 9-5 shot advantage, but neither side was able to tally an opener.
• The second half saw some wide open play as each team pressed forward for offensive chances. The Hawks had a golden opportunity on the hour mark as
Daniel Morales sent an inch-perfect cross in to
Blake Driehuis, whose header beat Demetri Skoumbakis but was denied by the crossbar. Skoumbakis then smothered
Alvin Dahn's follow-up to keep the match level.
• LIU (1-1-0) came right back and nearly scored minutes later. After shouts for a penalty, the Sharks were instead awarded a free kick from just outside the area; Emil Jaaskelainen's searing effort was cleared off the line by
Johnny Cunningham to keep the affair at nil-nil.
• The match went to overtime, and shortly after the restart, Hans Oeftger sent Jaaskelainen in on goal with a through-ball; the Sharks' striker tucked home the winner a minute and 43 seconds into the extra frame to give the visitors the win.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• The Hawks finished the match with a 16-13 advantage in shots and earned four corner kicks to three for LIU.
• Skoumbakis made six saves for the Sharks, while
Lars Haavie stopped four shots for the Hawks.
HAWK TALK
"Tonight's match was a gut-wrenching result because we deserved to win the game," head coach
Don D'Ambra said. "I felt that we were the better team and that we created enough chances to win the game.  Defensively we were excellent, not allowing a goal in regulation.  We had some really nice attacking and possessing moments; however, we lacked composure around the goal tonight.  We need to learn from this match and get better from it."
UP NEXT
The Hawks will head to North Carolina, where they will face Campbell and UNC Greensboro over the weekend.
