Coraopolis, PA – The CMCC Men's Soccer team battled through a rainy opening game of USCAA National Tournament pool play against Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte. The match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of extra time before the Mustangs prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks over the two-time defending national champions.
"It's a huge win and a confidence boost for our guys," said head coach Dalton Wing. "It was a long game through 110 minutes. Cody Cleaveland was big for us and made some nice saves while having to wait through the wind and rain. We stayed composed in the penalty shootout. We've been working on that for three weeks in practice. It was good to see that pay off."
Central Maine struggled to find a foothold early on in the first half with the JWU-Charlotte dominating play. The Wildcats controlled the tempo in the attacking third and tested goalkeeper Cody Cleaveland with several shots on target.
The Wildcats did pick up two yellow cards in the first half though with Jacobo Arias and Lucas Lesh going into the referee's book, something that would come back to hurt them later on.
The Mustangs grew into the game in the last 20 minutes of the half. Ivan Domingues flashed a header wide of the right-hand post on a cross from brother Igor Domingues. Ivan, the YSCC Player of the Year, then had a great chance for a two-on-one with Mitch Cameron on a feed into the box, only for his first touch to let him down and allow the defense to clear.
Johnson & Wales went down to ten men in the second half. Forward Lucas Lesh picked up his second yellow and was given his marching orders in the 52nd minute for a late tackle from behind. However, even with the man advantage CMCC struggled to keep possession in the middle of the field. Cleaveland added six more saves to his tally in the second set of 45 minutes, denying several well-worked set pieces from the Wildcats.
Once again, the Mustangs got better as the half moved along. Ivan came close to putting CMCC in front with a powerful shot from the right side of the box in 77th minute, but goalkeeper Colin Starr got two hands behind it at full stretch to push it around the post. David Nzuzi then nearly won the match in the final two minutes of regulation. The winger out of Brunswick High School rounded the goalkeeper in the box only to see his shot cleared away by defender Tristan Pringle.
On to sudden-death extra time it went. In the first ten-minute period, Central Maine took five shots putting three on target. There was a feisty moment in the 106th minute. Center back Raimundo Lubota leveled Niklas Seguin with a heavy shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. The CMCC defender picked up a yellow card, with Seguin joining him after shoving the junior from Lewiston, ME after the fact.
Both teams looked exhausted in the second half of extra time. Multiple players went down with cramps and needed help stretching before being able to continue. And as the 110th minute ticked down to zeros on the clock, the game was headed to penalties to determine a winner.
Jeremiah Gomez led off and deposited his shot low into the corner for a 1-0 lead. Dylan Steeves went first for JWU-Charlotte but saw his attempt saved by Cleaveland diving to his right. Captain Alfie Bashford bravely stepped up, but the center back hooked his left-footed attempt wide of the post allowing Seguin to even it up at one apiece.
Leading-scorer Ivan Domingues stepped up third for the Mustangs having gone a perfect 6-for-6 on PKs in the regular season. The junior All-American made no mistake from the spot to make it 2-1 and put the pressure back on Johnson & Wales. Cleaveland once again got two hands to the Wildcats penalty, but this time Jonathan Shembo's effort could only be pushed into the side netting to make it 2-2.
Second-year winger Tiro Nong went next. The CMCC student body President sent goalkeeper Starr the wrong way for a 3-2 lead. Having sent their first three penalties to the left, Alex Castro attempted to open his hips and shoot towards the right but his effort missed high, clipping the top of the crossbar.
Lubota came forward knowing a successful conversion would win the game. The former state champion with the Lewiston Blue Devils had missed the first half of the season after picking up an injury against Thomas College. He had stepped up to score a penalty in the senior night game against UMaine-Augusta. In his biggest moment of the season, Lubota held his nerve and curled his PK into the right side of the net to win the shootout 4-2.
JWU outshot Central Maine 21-14 on the day with Cleaveland tying his season-high mark with 12 stops. The Mustangs kept their tenth clean sheet of the season and avenged their season-ending loss to the Wildcats in last year's national tournament.
CMCC now gets a day of rest before playing their second game of pool play against Penn State-Lehigh Valley at 10:00 am on Saturday, November 16th. A win against PSU would put the Mustangs in the national championship game on Sunday.
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