College Men’s Soccer Final – Guilford 0, Eastern Mennonite 0 (2 OT)

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Guilford College’s Eric Hayes collected nine of ten Guilford saves as the Quakers and Eastern Mennonite University played to a Saturday Night Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) draw, 0-0, in two overtimes. The tie is the second in as many games for the Quakers.

Eastern Mennonite opened the first twenty minutes with a 5-0 shot advantage, but each side traded corner kicks in a tight opening to the first half. The Quakers (5-6-2, 0-3-2 ODAC) narrowed the Royals’ (5-7-4, 0-3-2 ODAC) advantage on shots, 8-5, over the second portion of the first half and threatened Eastern Mennonite on two opportunities. Guilford earned a free kick in the 36th minute where Mark Dandanell, parallel to the left post, headed the service just across the goal line, but Dandanell was then ruled out of bounds which wiped the tally off the scoreboard.

Both sides opened an exciting first five minutes of the second half as both teams combined for three shots in the first five minutes, including an Albion Ida shot that just missed the right post. Guilford tallied four shots in the first seven minutes as the Quakers held the possession advantage for the first ten minutes of the period. Eastern Mennonite countered with back-to-back corner kicks where the Quakers held at the goal line. The Quakers defense stopped a Juan Luna shot at the goal line in the 58th minute, followed by a key Eric Hayes (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) save of a Dominic Powers shot directly off the second corner kick. Each side traded stretches of four-shot rallies over the next twenty minutes as the Quakers produced two near-miss opportunities after the Eastern Mennonite four-shot rally. Both sides traded a pair of shots in the final 15 minutes, sending the scoreless contest into overtime.

Eastern Mennonite claimed both shots in the first overtime period with Hayes stopping Powers’ 99th-minute 25-yard shot, sending the game into a final overtime. Guilford produced most of the offensive opportunities in the second overtime period, where Greico nearly gave the Quakers the victory in the 105th minute as he beat goalie Matthew Overacker, but fired the shot wide to the left. The Royals secured a throw-in by the Guilford goal in the final minute, which flew into the six-yard box where Hayes covered and started a counter-attack. Seth Garrison (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) then fired a 25-yard central shot high, the final offensive chance of the game as time expired.

Eastern Mennonite held a narrow 19-17 shot advantage while the Quakers’ two corner-kick opportunities in the second overtime put the Quakers ahead, 8-6, on corner kicks. Overacker stopped four shots for the Royals.

The Quakers return to action Wednesday, traveling to Roanoke College for a 4:30 p.m. ODAC contest.