Photo Courtesy of Giancarlo Sepulveda
The men’s soccer team was able to overcome a 2-0 deficit to fight back and earn a 2-2 tie when they hosted NJAC rival William Paterson on Saturday.
After Ramapo had a goal called back early in the first half, William Paterson was able to open up the scoring in the 13th minute when the Pioneers’ leading scorer, junior midfielder Musa Sackoon, netted his eighth goal of the season. At the 33:06 mark of the first half, the Pioneers were able to extend their lead to 2-0 after an unassisted goal by junior forward Fabian Allen.
Just over four minutes into the second half, Roadrunner freshman defenseman Leandro Gonzalez was given a red card, meaning that Ramapo would have to play a man down for the rest of the game.
“Being down 2-0 and getting red carded was pretty difficult, but we just couldn’t give up,” said junior defenseman and one of the captains, Bayley Young.
Young began the comeback by heading home a free kick off the foot of freshman midfielder Jorge Castro.
“It was a free kick on the side of the 18. I was the furthest man from the ball and just jumped up and headed it in,” said Young. “The first goal gave us motivation to tie it up and not let them score again.”
The Roadrunners kept pushing and eventually were able to knot the game at two after a terrific finish by sophomore forward Justin Olaya off of the pass from junior midfielder/forward Kevin Monaghan.
“After the first goal it felt like we could get the equalizer; we stayed composed and did a good job of keeping the ball on the carpet and Justin had a fantastic finish,” said Ramapo head coach DJ Pinton.
The two overtime periods were tightly defended by both teams, as they stayed at a 2-2 tie to each be awarded one point in the conference standings.
“I’m really proud of the effort; it was not easy playing a man down and having to score two goals to come back,” Pinton added.
The Pioneers are now 3-4-2, 0-1-1 in the NJAC, while the Roadrunners are 5-3-2 and also are 0-1-1 in the NJAC.
Ramapo will return to action when they head to Newark to take on the Rutgers-Newark Scarlet Raiders in an NJAC conference matchup on Wednesday.
rrisnky@ramapo.edu
