For the first 15 minutes of Saturday's NCAA first-round game, Long Island University looked like a team that might crush the Eagles' aspirations of a second-round date with Virginia.
Over the next 75 minutes, though, LIU turned into merely another name underneath the Eagles' win column.
Despite a tentative start, the AU Men's Soccer team soundly beat LIU, 3-0, to secure its first tournament win in two years and book a trip to Charlottesville, Va., on Tuesday.
Senior midfielder Shawn Kuykendall broke the deadlock in the 24th minute, punctuating an impressive bit of buildup from AU despite mis-hitting his final touch. Kuykendall's shot puttered along the ground, but beat LIU 'keeper Ryszard Gorski, who got a palm on it but appeared to slip and couldn't keep the ball out, to the lower right.
"I thought I had him going the other way before it went in," Kuykendall said. But after his shot, "I wasn't thinking it was going in, that's for sure."
LIU head coach T.J. Kostecky said that goal was the turning point of the game.
"Ryszard is a terrific goalkeeper ... it's unfortunate," Kostecky said. "The ball went so slow I think it kind of handcuffed him."
Senior forward Charlie Koniver started the move, stripping an LIU attacker in the AU half before finding Kuykendall in the center circle. Kuykendall sprayed a pass wide right to sophomore midfielder Salvatore Caccavale, who carried several yards before again linking with Kuykendall, who turned and shot.
That goal came as AU (15-5-2) was finally starting to gain the possession and control of midfield it thrives on. Earlier, LIU (9-7-2) had the better of the chances, twice having quality shots from inside the penalty area. Through the rest of the half, AU tightened its grip on all parts of the park and doubled the lead in the 40th minute.
Kuykendall nearly scored his second on the sequence, when Gorski parried away an 18-yard rocket. Senior forward Sean Albright reached the rebound, though, and easily headed it into an empty net from close range.
In truth, that goal spelled doom for the Blackbirds, who scored multiple goals in only four games this season. Forced to play without standout right back Josh Couvillion, who sat with an accumulative yellow-card suspension, LIU's back line could not keep the score low enough for the Blackbirds' offense.
But with LIU forced to open things up to try and respond, the Eagles scored a third goal to end all doubts.
"We respect everyone," AU coach Todd West said. "But we didn't think they could score a lot of goals. So we just wanted to have a third one and end it. It took longer than we would've hoped, but luckily it came."
Senior forward David Marut finally ended the tension in the 85th minute, thanks to a perfectly timed pass from Caccavale. Given space in the center of midfield, Caccavale played a ball behind LIU's left back and onto Marut's run on the right wing. Marut easily beat Gorski, slotting the ball inside the left post.
Just before Marut's goal, LIU created a couple chances, their most dangerous chances of the half. In the 78th minute, Norman LeVesque got free on the right, and his cross found striker Ricardo Ordain, only for Ordain's one-timer to miss the left post by about two feet. Five minutes later, a lofted free kick bounced inside the six-yard box, but not one of the several LIU players nearby could reach it before AU senior 'keeper Thomas Myers.
Those chances are likely the ones a team like No. 4 seed Virginia, the Eagles next opponent, will put away. But AU, who is 1-2 against the University of Virginia in the tournament, isn't conceding anything to what will be a substantially favored Cavalier club.
"It's exciting that we get to play a team of national prominence," said Kuykendall, who doesn't think the Eagles will be out of their league. "When we played them in the spring, we had a couple of their coaches tell us we, at times, were the better team."
West said the Eagles will put forth their best efforts.
"We've played Virginia many times. Obviously, we respect the heck out of their program. To me it's just a great game to try and win."
The Eagles will try to pull off the upset on Tuesday evening, with kick-off time at the Cavaliers' place set for 7 p.m. at UVa's Klockner stadium.
