Sept. 7, 2008
HAMDEN, Conn. - Junior fullback Tyler Bellamy's equalizer 23 seconds following the Bobcat's initial score earned a 1-1 double overtime draw for the St. Bonaventure men's soccer team on Sunday afternoon at Quinnipiac.
The Brown and White's first tie of the season moves the club to 1-1-1 on the year, while Quinnipiac remains unbeaten at 2-0-1.
"Our guys showed great character this afternoon in picking up a result after falling behind," said head coach Mel Mahler. "I am extremely proud of the club's effort considering this was our second match in three days, while Quinnipiac was fresh with four days of rest."
Despite a scoreless opening 45 minutes of action, the Bonnies opened the contest with a flurry of opportunities on the attack. Following junior Samuel Maheu's blast at the 4:30 mark, the Brown and White pressured the Quinnipiac target in the next four-plus minutes with a quartet of strikes blocked by the Bobcat defense.
St. Bonaventure owned an 8-7 shot advantage following the first half, but only one save was needed from sophomore keeper David Flynn.
The Bobcats tallied the contest's first score less than 30 minutes into the second stanza as Durval Pereira beat Flynn into the top portion of the net to give his side a 1-0 advantage at the 74:10 mark.
However, the Bonnies didn't trail for long. Just 23 second later, Bellamy tallied his second career goal to even the match at 1-1 still in the 74th minute of play. The Hammonton, N.J. native corralled the rebound from teammate Dan Mitchell's strike and fired the ball into the back of the Quinnipiac net.
The two sides shared a 9-9 shot tally during the second period.
Aided by the ejection of junior Matt Culo in the 87th minute, Quinnipiac controlled the pace of play during the two overtime sessions with six combined strikes in extra time. For the game, the Bobcats owned a 22-17 edge in overall shots.
Flynn turned away seven shots throughout the match, including three in overtime. Maheu and Bellamy paced the Bona attack with four shots apiece.
"I thought our overall team effort was brilliant against Quinnipiac," said Mahler. "Flynn was the man of the match today as he made some great saves to keep us in the game, while Tyler put forth a tremendous defensive display against one of the nation's premier forwards (#18 Graciano Brito). We are really looking forward to building on this and heading into the future in a positive direction."
St. Bonaventure returns to action a week from today on Sunday, September 14 at Big 4 rival Canisius. Kick-off in Buffalo is slated for 1:00 p.m.
