BLOOMFIELD, NJ: Ninety minutes and two nail-biting overtime periods could not decide a winner between the Nyack College Warriors and the Lady Deacons Tuesday afternoon, as the women's soccer team played their conference rivals from the north to a 1-1 tie at Brookdale Park.
The contest featured two evenly-matched squads, the clubs playing to a scoreless tie through the first 45 minutes. Warriors standout forward Alisha Smith gave Nyack a 1-0 advantage in the 52nd minute, firing a shot past Bloomfield keeper
Adriana Moreno from 25 yards out for her 12'th goal of the season.
It seemed as though the tally would be enough to preserve the victory, but the Lady Deacons drew a costly foul inside the 18 with ten seconds remaining in the match, sending midfielder
Laura Nunnery to the six for a crucial penalty kick. She connected on the chance, knotting the score at a goal apiece and sending the game to overtime.
The teams played to a gridlock through two ten minute frames, but midfielder
Erika Len broke free for the Lady Deacons in the waning seconds, needing to beat only the keeper to give the Deacons the win. But the shot she fired as the horn sounded went crashing off the crossbar, leaving Coach Constantino's squad with a heart-breaking way to end such a hard-fought affair.
"I thought our girls gave everything they had today," head coach Rocco Constantino said. "Nyack is a very good defensive team, but we kept coming at them. We got a break with the late penalty kick, but I thought they got some breaks too. Twice we hit wide open shots right to the keeper, and Erika hit the crossbar at the end. Both teams played extremely hard and should keep their heads held high after this game."
The team returns to action Saturday, October 17, with a road match against versus Goldey Beacom College. The opening whistle is set for 12:00 PM.