After 90 tenuous minutes of regulation and 10 more of overtime could not break a 1-1 tie, the AU and Lafayette men's soccer teams huddled in front of their benches.
Depleted players scurried for water bottles, anxious coaches dictated strategy for the second overtime, and in AU's huddle, Sal Caccavale dictated some of his own.
"If you get the ball to my feet, we're going to score," the junior forward pleaded to his teamates. "So let's do it."
His teammates listened and three minutes into the second overtime, Caccavale delivered, eluding three defenders in front of goal before driving a10-yard shot past sprawling Leopard goalkeeper Mike Tortora, giving AU a dramatically, 2-1 win at Reeves Field Saturday.
"I saw a wall of about four defenders," said Caccavale of the buildup to the goal, "and I said I need to figure out a way to get around them, and get a shot off. After I juked the first one, I saw two more and said, 'Hey, let's give it a go.'"
That decision led to Caccavale's third goal of the season, and more importantly, a crucial win to open AU's Patriot League season after what has been a rough September. AU (2-4-1, 1-0 PL) had suffered all four of its defeats by one-goal margins. And with 11 freshmen on the roster, including seven who played Saturday, another such defeat could have been catastrophic for a team searching for its confidence.
"We're a young team, and our psyche was, well, not fragile, but when you lose games you always start to question yourselves," AU coach Todd West said.
He later added, "This is a huge win, if you can say that early in the season there are huge wins."
AU's task was made more difficult by the season's recurring theme of personnel issues, this time in the form of junior defender Nathan Baker serving a red card suspension. As a result, AU points leader junior Garth Juckem moved all the way from attacking mid to right back.
While clouds and drizzle lingered through what prior to kick off shaped up as an unpromising afternoon, AU couldn't have started better. And in the 4th minute, AU went ahead through junior forward Larry Mark.
AU 'keeper Chris Sedlak's long clearance started the move reaching freshman Justin Turco on the right. Turco carried then fired a low cross to Mark, who turned around his man and fired low past Tortora for his third goal this season.
AU continued controlling play, but couldn't pad its lead., Lafayette (4-3-0, 0-1 PL) then started to generate its own chances. In the 29th minute, an apparent Lafayette goal was disallowed when the linesman said he spotted a Leopard yanking the jersey of junior AU defender Nigel White in front of goal. A minute later, Leopard forward Mark Price crossed low from the right to midfielder Thomas Harju, whose blast smacked the right corner of the goal frame.
Finally, in the 31st minute, Lafayette tied it when midfielder Scott Hawkins chested in Anthony Sepe's corner kick, which sailed over Sedlak and several AU defenders.
AU got much tougher defensivel in the second half, and could have won it in regulation with better finishing.
Twice between minutes 80 and 90, freshman Mark Petruniak missed wide left from the right channel. On another occasion, it was a sprawling Tortora denying the freshman's near-post effort. Once, Petruniak also slipped a ball left for Juckem, whose 20-yard effort was blocked.
Petruniak, despite not finishing those chances, led an entire class of freshman who seemed at home in league play.
"Every game in the Patriot League is going to be like this - this hard, this intense," Petruniak said, unfazed. "It's rare you're going to open up teams and beat them, 3- or 4-0."
But Caccavale's individual brilliance did open the Leopards up just long enough. And, while he had other options, his goal was anything but selfish.
"Garth told me before this game, 'This is your team, we need you to take over a game for us,'" Caccavale said. "Unfortunately, it just took 100 minutes instead of 90"
