A tie was not going to do it. With their season on the line at top-seeded Misericordia, and tied 2-2, the Eastern University Men's Soccer team looked at the 20 minutes of overtime and knew that they needed to find a goal to keep playing.
Midway through the first overtime, Terry Fry took a brilliant through ball from Phil Mantua outran the defender on his side before slotting a low shot into the bottom right corner of the goal to extend the Eastern season.
Fry's 95th minute game-winner was just one dramatic moment in a game full of dramatic moments. The Cougars jumped to an early lead on a brilliant flying volley. Tyler Mensch met a cross from the left side and cracked a left footed shot into the upper part of the net from twelve yards out.
At that point, things looked very uphill for the Eagles. They quickly struck back on a clever goal from first-year forward Braden Gross. Eastern goalkeeper Michael Dorsch started the play with a long drop kick into the Cougar defensive end. Mantua received the 80 yard blast and in in one motion slipped it into a seam. Gross ran onto the ball and put away his 5th of the year. Eastern Head Coach Mark Wagner said of Gross's effort, "Braden worked really hard for us in all aspects of the game. He earned that goal with his persistent running."
Moments later, the Eagles took the lead on a restart goal. Fry hit a curling ball into the dangerous area eight yards from goal, and Mike Leitzel flicked a perfect header just under the crossbar for his first goal of the year.
The Eagles battled through the remainder of the half to keep the Cougars off the board. Misericordia held an edge in shots at the half, but the Eagles kept the goal advantage.
Senior goalkeeper Michael Dorsch made the save of the match on a vicious curling shot through traffic in the 54th minute, and it looked as though the 2-1 lead might hold up.
The Eastern lead would evaporate just moments later. The Cougars earned a restart opportunity just outside the box. Max Campbell ripped the free kick into the upper window to tie the match at two.
Midway through the period, news reached the Eastern bench that King's and DeSales had tied, and that a win would secure a playoff spot. The Eagles seemed energized in all aspects of the game.
With just under six minutes to play Ryan Castle found Ben Faro in transition. Faro beat his defender inside and hit a low hard shot that the Misericordia keeper Andrew Loyd blocked but could not hold. An alert Cougar defender hoisted the ball out of danger just before a pair of Eastern attackers closed on the ball. The Eagles earned another chance in the 89th minute, but Loyd pushed Gross's shot over the bar.
Fry's game-winner secures the 5th seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs for a team that appeared to be done when they fell behind by two goals on Thursday. Senior Alex Clark scored in that game to give the Eagles hope, and that hope became real as the Eagles earned a key road win and got a little help from DeSales today. Eastern earns the fifth seed over King's on the third tiebreaker which is record against the League from the top down. Because Eastern beat top-seeded Misericordia tonight, and the Monarchs tied the Cougars earlier in the year, Eastern will keep playing.
Wagner said of the win, "We are starting to play with a real commitment to each other, and we can't understate the importance of that. We appeared to be dead in the water midway through the first half on Thursday, and now we have second life. We've been in must-win mode for a week now. Our playoffs continue on Tuesday."
The Eagles will travel to Alvernia for the opportunity to return to Dallas on Thursday. Game time for the Tuesday game is yet to be announced.
