ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– For the second-straight match, Eastern University Men's Soccer played a 110 minutes on Olson Field without finding a winner. In today's 1-1 draw with the visiting Catholic University of America Cardinals, both teams played on the front foot and created chances. First-year goalie Diesel Fiore made five of his six saves in extra time to preserve the draw. 

Jesse Byler opened the scoring in the 37th on Eastern's second corner kick of the match. Gabriel Velazquez played a short ball toward the goal, and a worked back up field to take a return pass. The junior midfielder evaded a defender and poked the ball back toward his own goal where Arjun Sharin received the ball and bent a serve toward the back post. Byler was among three Eastern attackers closing on the goal. His header slammed into the back of the net for his first career goal and an early lead. 

The Eagles (6-1-2) held a slim edge in possession and in pressure at the half, but the result was clearly still in question.

The Cardinals found their goal just after the hour mark. Gordie Bernlohr picked up a pass 45 yards from goal and slipped through a trio of Eastern defenders. The sophomore midfielder bent a beautiful right-foot strike into the upper corner to tie the match. 

The Eagles created numerous chances over the final 25 minutes of regulation, but the final proved elusive. Eastern's best chances came on restarts or with Emmanuel Hewitt, Drew Johnson, and Ryan Jammes working the wings. The Eagles had eight shots after halftime, but Catholic goalkeeper Troy Young and his defense were up to the task.

With both teams looking to take advantage of transition moments, the overtimes saw end-to-end action. FIore's first save overtime was routine. His second was better. HIs third was spectacular. All three stops came against Bernlohr. The third came on a shot inside the box that looked very similar to the goal. Fiore shot his top hand to the upper corner and kept the ball out.

The teams switched sides for the second overtime and Fiore had to deal with a troubling sun sitting low in the afternoon sky. He made two more stops to preserve the draw. 

"I thought we did enough to win the match," Head Coach Kevin Brenner said after the match. "We created quality scoring chances, and we were dynamic in the final third. We needed to be more clinical in front of goal. The positive is we are doing a great job to create these amazing scoring chances. The goals will come. Now we turn our attention to a very tough conference schedule. We look forward to playing at Hood on Saturday evening."

Saturday's 7:00 pm match will be the first MAC Commonwealth test for Eastern Men's Soccer. The Eagles won the MAC Freedom in 2019 and were slated to compete int he MAC Commonwealth in 2020. Eastern will host Alvernia next Tuesday in the first MAC Commonwealth home match.