The American University men’s soccer team (8-8-2) fell to the Lafayette Leopards (8-7-7) in overtime by a score of 3-2 on Nov. 11 at Reeves Field. The loss spelled the end of the team’s season.
The Eagles entered the game as the #1 seed in the Patriot League tournament, coming off a bye. The #6 seed Leopards went on the road and defeated the #3 seed Army Black Knights by a score of 1-0 in the quarterfinals. The Leopards were the only Patriot League team to beat the Eagles in the regular season, winning 1-0 on Oct. 4.
Before the game, the Eagles honored their award winners as senior midfielder Troy Elgersma won both Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year and Patriot League Midfielder of the Year. Senior goalkeeper Matthew Tibbetts picked up Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year and the coaching staff led by head coach Zach Samol was awarded Patriot League Coaching Staff of the Year.
American got off to a fast start as it won a corner in the opening minute after sophomore midfielder Chris Sullivan had his long-range shot blocked by a Lafayette defender. Not even 40 seconds later, senior midfielder Sebastian Garces took a shot that was saved by Lafayette senior goalkeeper Eric Axtman.
Five minutes later, Axtman was forced back into action. Sophomore midfielder Oliver Snowdon’s initial shot was blocked, and graduate student forward Mustapha Sowe had the second attempt, which was saved by Axtman. Garces then whipped a free kick in which Elgersma, who was left unmarked by the Lafayette defense, sliced wide of the goal.
Soon after, the Lafayette defense cleared Snowdon’s shot off the goal line. The Eagles were in control for most of the half. Elgersma had two more chances to fire the Eagles ahead, however, he was unable to keep his shot down. Sowe once again tested Axtman — this time in the 19th minute — but similar to his first shot, it was a long-range effort that was comfortably saved.
Nine minutes later, Sowe guided a header straight into the arms of Axtman, giving him his 5th save of the first half. In the 35th minute, junior midfielder Reyes Parra tallied American’s 6th shot on goal and forced a 6th save from Axtman. Lafayette spent most of the first half defending but managed to prevent any real threat from the Eagles.
“The first 25-30 minutes, I thought we were great and just didn’t get the goal you want to get for playing that well,” Samol said.
The second half was where everything in the game became chaotic, to say the least. Lafayette responded to the first half by pressuring the Eagle’s backline for the opening 20 minutes of the half.
Lafayette scored in the 67th minute on a set-piece goal from sophomore defender Joseph Lee. He was assisted by senior defender Nicholas Liebich who headed the initial ball into the path of Lee. Lee slotted it home to give the Leopards the 1-0 lead. The goal stunned the American home crowd as Lafayette looked to pull off the unthinkable.
Not even two minutes later, before the Eagles could respond, the Leopards’ leading scorer junior midfielder Samir Dishnica fired home the second, giving the Leopards what looked to be an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
Lafayette, who entered the game having conceded the fewest amount of goals in the Patriot League, remained stout and determined to interrupt the Eagles offensive flow. They also racked up five yellow cards in the second half and eight overall.
“Lafayette makes it hard in a soccer way but also in disrupting our game, as the game went it got a little bit more chaotic,” Samol said. “It’s a hard task for our guys to stay in the moment and do what we do and to stay focused on that with all the outside noise coming across from Lafayette.”
The Eagles got a lifeline in the 86th minute with four minutes remaining when junior defender Ian Webb-Johnson was pulled down inside the area during a free kick taken by senior midfielder Toshi Davis. After going to the video assistant referee, or VAR, the referee pointed to the spot giving the Eagles a lifeline. Under pressure, Elgersma converted a penalty kick, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with under four minutes to go in regulation.
Two minutes later after another VAR intervention, Elgersma was heading back to the spot again to bring the game level. Elgersma, with the eyes of a packed Reeves watching, went top left, beating Axtman again and bringing the score level at 2-2.
The game went to overtime and the Leopards were awarded a penalty about two minutes in. The foul was called against Garces, who was tangled up with a Lafayette attacking player amidst a free kick for the Leopards. Dishnica stepped up to the spot and converted, ending the game and giving the Leopards a 3-2 upset win over the Eagles.
“What I saw live was it looked like we were wrestling with one of their guys in a man marking situation and it looks like it could be called a foul for sure,” Samol said of the incident. “Maybe we just lost a little discipline at that moment and unfortunately the ref decided to make the call.”
Reflecting on the season, Samol said, “I am so proud of the way this group matured from the beginning of the season to the end. I was really impressed to start 0-4-1 and to stay the course, and it’s a credit to the seniors. It’s a credit to the leadership that they were able to do that. It was a pretty impressive job from our guys and deserved, we deserved first place in the league and I thought we played like it.”
His message to the team afterwards echoed similar thoughts.
,“When this loss wears off and you’re able to kind of look back on things, you’re going to look back on the successful season it was, and what an amazing thing it was to go 7-1-1 and win the league,” Samol said.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve and Ava Stuzin.
