FLUSHING, NY – It all came down to one penalty kick and junior Cooper Kerridge buried a shot into the left side of the goal to give the Roberts Wesleyan University Men's Soccer team its first East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Roberts (10-2-7) battled to a 1-1 tie during regulation time and the two 10-minute overtime periods with Queens College (13-3-4). An early miss in the five-round penalty kick tie-breaker gave the Redhawks and early advantage.
Junior Takumi Horan, senior Luke Hanes and senior Iann Briones each scored and the PK tally was tied at 3-3 after Queens freshman Brayden Brown rattled his shot off the goal post setting up the try by Kerridge to end the contest. Senior Eric Jewson, who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, finished with six saves in the Roberts goal.
The Redhawks are crowned ECC Champions for the first time in Men's Soccer since Roberts joined the conference in 2012 and are headed to its first NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selection show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday night and the Redhawks will find out then the first-round opponent and site. First round games begin Friday, November 21.
"I am so proud of these guys," said Head Coach Scott Reber. "They have worked so hard this year and especially over the last few weeks. We knew we were going against a tough team in Queens and the guys really stepped up to the challenge tonight."
In regulation play Saturday against Queens, Roberts took a 1-0 lead in the first half when senior Jack Hopson scored on a penalty kick after a foul was called against the Knights in the penalty area.
The Redhawks held the slim advantage through the first period. After an extended halftime break due to lightning strikes in the area, the teams finally started the second half and less than five minutes into the period, Queens was able to tie the score.
The score remained tied through regulation and into the overtime periods.
"What an exciting final," said Reber. "Fans on both sides had a lot to cheer for. Both teams played hard and battled right to the end."
In the second overtime period, Queens nearly ended the game with a had shot 10 seconds into the period that went just wide of the goal.
"That was a great shot", said Reber. "The shot seemed to wake us up a bit because we had a whole new level of energy for the rest of the OT."
The energy resulted in a few scoring chances for Roberts.
With 3:30 left in the session, junior Ewan O'Dwyer-Hall sent a crossing pass to the mouth of the goal and junior Archie Murphy headed the ball just over the cross bar.
A little more than a minute later, the pressure continued for Roberts and Murphy had a hard shot from 10 yards out that deflected off the leg of a Queens defender and ended up wide.
The ensuing corner kick gave Roberts another chance and a shot by O'Dwyer-Hall was saved with a diving effort by the Knights goalie.
"It was totally a team win tonight," said Reber. Everyone left it all on the field and even the guys that didn't get into the game had great energy on the bench and the players on the field seemed to feed off that energy."
