Score: Elmira College 1, St. John Fisher College 1 (2OT)
Records: Elmira (3-10-2, 2-3-1 E8), Fisher (7-4-4, 2-3-1 E8)
Location: Campus Field – Elmira, N.Y.
 
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Less than four minutes separated the Elmira College men's soccer team from its third Empire 8 Conference victory of the season and a chance to dictate its own course to clinch a postseason berth. However, a late goal by defending Empire 8 champion St. John Fisher College made EC's path to the playoffs a little trickier, as the two sides played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie. Prior to today's conference match, Elmira honored its five graduating members of the Class of 2018: Tony Barraco '18, Kurt Bartholomew '18, Kyle Beekman '18, Donte Donegal '18 and Brendan Wise '18.
 
The Cardinals opened today's game with a flurry of offensive pressure, as they looked to quiet an electrifying crowd at Campus Field. St. John Fisher took two shots and had four corner kick chances in the opening six minutes of play, but the Soaring Eagle defense held the Cardinals' offense scoreless on all of their scoring opportunities.
 
Fisher continued to apply pressure on EC's back line, as it took another two shots over the next 15 minutes. Despite the 4-0 lead in shots, Elmira was able to break through for the game-opening score on its first shot of the game in the 28th minute.
 
A nice string of passes, starting with left-back Jameson Asmus '20, set up the scoring play. Asmus found Tyler West '21 on the left sideline, where he cut back and laid off a pass to Tony Barraco '18, who split a pair of defenders with a pass to Donegal just outside the 18-yard box. From there, Donegal worked a beautiful one-two combo pass with Michael Courtney '21, whose pass put Donegal inside the box, where he curled the ball into the right-side netting for the score.  
 
Donegal's goal would force the Cardinals to make five substitutions, but none of those changes made a difference to the score line, as Elmira held Fisher scoreless for the remainder of the first half.
 
In the second stanza, Fisher upped the pressure on offense, but EC's defensive backs did a menacing job deflecting shots and going after 50/50 balls. With Fisher's confidence deflating and EC's momentum growing even greater, it seemed as though the Purple and Gold were due to score another goal.
 
A golden opportunity to put today's game out of reach came at the 86:03 mark, as Donegal showcased his speed and physicality to set up a one-on-one with Cardinal goalkeeper Joe Catalfamo. After beating a defender and muscling him off the ball, Donegal nearly fell to the ground, but was able to stay on his feet and take an off-balance shot from inside the 18-yard box. Unfortunately for EC, Catalfamo raced off of his line and smothered the attempt to keep it a one-goal game.
 
Exactly 35 seconds ran off the clock until the Cardinals found this afternoon's game-tying goal. Fisher won a 50/50 ball at midfield off of an EC goal kick, and a string of headed passes put Bryan Rollins just outside the 18-yard box with Justen Polk making a run alongside him. From there, Rollins slid a pass to Polk, who fired the ball into the left corner for the eventual game-tying score.
 
Polk's goal sent today's contest into overtime, but neither team was able to find the game-winning tally in the two 10-minute overtime periods, as the contest ended in a 1-1 double-overtime draw.
 
Fisher ended the game with a 20-to-8 lead in shots, as well as a 5-to-2 advantage in shots on goal. Corner kick chances were heavily in favor of Fisher, 11-2.
 
Elmira's Jacob Mattice '21 finished with four saves in 110 minutes of action, while his counterpart from Fisher, Catalfamo, made one stop in a complete-game effort.
 
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Kevin Brenner reflects on today's game…
"Today feels a bit like a loss, as I felt we deserved more from the game and had a chance to kill it off with under five minutes remaining. We were unlucky to concede the goal with three minutes to go, which proved to be the equalizer. I thought the players' attitude and willingness to compete at a high-level today was tremendous. We remain in the playoff hunt with an all-important game next Friday evening at Sage. Overall, it wasn't the result we wanted today, as I felt the players deserved all three points against the defending Empire 8 champions. We will reset the mind and the body, and get focused in on Friday."
 
News and Notes

• Elmira sits in a two-way tie for fifth place in the E8 standings with St. John Fisher.
• Both Elmira and Fisher are three points shy of fourth-place Alfred (10).
• Today's contest was EC's home finale and served as Class of 2018 Recognition Day.
• Elmira is unbeaten this season in games in which it scores at least one goal (3-0-2).
• Donegal scored his team-leading third goal of the season and registered his team-leading seventh point.
• Courtney was credited with his first career assist and moved into third place on EC's point leaderboard with three.
• Mattice's record as a starter this season is now 1-2-1.
• Mattice has made 18 saves in his last four appearances.

 
Up Next
The Soaring Eagles travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 25, for their final non-conference match of the season, as they take on the Monarchs of King's College (Pa.). The opening kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.