ALBANY – Sage men's soccer tied Bard College 2-2 after 110 minutes of play Wednesday night.
Bard (3-0-2) came out of the gate early with three corner kicks and three shots in the first two and half minutes, but the Raptors were unable to put any on frame. Junior Derlis Zayas (White Plains, NY/White Plains) took Sage's (1-2-2) first shot of the game in the third minute that led to a corner, but the Gators couldn't convert on the opportunity.
After back-and-forth action from both teams, sophomore River Seybolt (Seldon, NY/Longwood) drew a penalty kick in the 24th minute. The forward took the shot, and scored his first goal of the season.
With the Gators up 1-0, Sage tried to play a through ball to sophomore Sarpong Adjei (Bronx, NY/DeWitt Clinton) in the 27th minute, but Bard's Keshav Prabhu-Schlosser made a heads up play in the back to keep Adjei from getting through. However, the Raptors couldn't hold back Adjei for long and he scored off a deflected Seybolt shot in the 29th minute to put Sage up 2-0.
A little over two minutes later, Bard was awarded a penalty kick of their own, and Austin Higgins scored to cut the deficit to 2-1 before halftime.
In the 47th minute, Bard scored the game-tying goal when Higgins scored a header on the far post from John Flynn.
Both teams continued to play each other fairly even over the next 34 minutes until the momentum swung Sage's way in the 81st minute when James Lagunas (Passaic, NY/Passaic County Technical Institute) started a string of Sage shots, but none found the back of the net.
In overtime, Bard's Nick Shenberger took a shot in the 94th minute to force a corner kick off a Caelen Kohut (Ancram, NY/Hudson) save. John Flynn's corner found Jake Cicero, but his shot just went wide to the left. Sage responded in the in the 97th minute with a Lagunas corner kick that found junior Paul Reynoso (Oswego, NY/G. Ray Bodley), but Reynoso's flick in the box couldn't find any fellow Gators.
In the second half, Seybolt had a chance in the 103rd minute, but a play blocked by the Raptor defense kept the game tied. Senior Kyle LeClerc (Beacon, NY/Beacon) took the last shot of the game in the 105th minute that went wide to the right.
Kohut (1-2-2) and Bard's Taylor Bond (3-0-2) were each credited with a tie in goal with eight and four saves respectively. Sage was led on offense by Seybolt (1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots), Adjei (1 goal, three shots), Zayas (4 shots) and LeClerc (4 shots) while Bard was led by Higgins (2 goals, 5 shots), Flynn (1 assist, 1 shot), Shenberger (3 shots) and Jake Cicero (2 shots).
Adjei currently leads the Gators in points (4) and goals (2) on the season. Seybolt is now tied for sixth in career points (26) in Sage school history.
The Gators open up Skyline Conference play on Sat. Sept., 17 at SUNY-Old Westbury at 1 p.m.
