The Berkeley College New Jersey men's soccer team was on the verge of extending its unbeaten streak in 2019 to six matches, but a late surge Albright College thwarted that, as the Lions defeated the Knights by a score of 3-2 in overtime. With the defeat, Berkeley fell to 4-1-1 on the year, while the Lions improved their record to 3-4, winning their second consecutive overtime match.
After 61 scoreless minutes of soccer was logged, the teams began lighting up the scoreboard. Albright College was the first team to get on the board when a Knights turnover inside the box allowed Alexander MacDonald to tap the ball into the net, past Robert Parker, to give the Lions a 1-0 advantage.
Later, at 74:04, Berkeley would tie the game when Marcos Hidalgo brought the ball down the right side of the field before feeding Robins Etienne, who would slash the ball into the bottom left corner to knot the game at one. 21 seconds later, Berkeley struck again when the two aforementioned Knights worked together again, this time Hidalgo scoring via an Etienne pass, as Berkeley launched ahead by a score of 2-1.
With two minutes remaining in regulation, the Lions earned a corner kick. Alex Lahey took advantage, heading the ball into the net with just 84 seconds remaining in regulation (88:36) to tie the game with two apiece, as Albright's bench erupted in a frenzy.
In the 98th minute, Wynton Britton scored the game-winner, taking advantage from a beautiful pass from Jake Kucowki, to end the match.
Despite the loss, Knights netminder Robert Parker recorded seven saves.
Albright held a slim 14-12 margin in the shots department, and earned eight corner kicks to Berkeley's three. The Knights were whistled for 18 fouls on the evening, compared to 10 for the opposition.
Berkeley College will look to shake off its first loss of 2019, as the Knights will take to the road to battle Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse on Sunday afternoon at the CNY Family Sports Centre. Start-time is scheduled for 1:00pm.
