READING, Pa. - The Penn State Abington men's soccer team was a little under four minutes away from securing their first win of the 2014 season Wednesday night in their NEAC opener. Unfortunately, they gave up a late goal in the 86
th minute and ended up playing Penn State Berks to a 2-2 draw in double overtime.
Freshman
Arnoldo Bennett (Portmore, Jamaica) would get Abington off to a good start in the 35
th minute as he directed a rebound shot off of Berks goalkeeper Kyle Baker into the open net. That was Bennett's first collegiate goal and Abington's first goal as a team this season.
Just 25 seconds later, freshman
Robert Ziegler (Norristown, Pa.) would give Abington a 2-0 lead. Ziegler gathered a loose ball in front of the net and deposited the ball into the far corner of the net. Abington would take the two goal into the half.
David Castellanos' squad dominated Berks in the first half outshooting them by an 11-2 margin.
Abington continued to play well in the second half collecting multiple scoring chances and shots on net. Berks would break through in the 71
st minute off a free kick from Isaiah Denner. Denner kicked the ball and was redirected past Abington goalkeeper
Dan Saint-Pol (Perkasie, Pa.) by T.J. Yurkovic.
Berks would tie the game at two in the 86
th minute courtesy of Anthony Kidron. Kidron directed a ball into the near corner off of a cross pass from Joe Budnovitch.
Abington couldn't generate much offense in both overtimes, but
Dan Saint-Pol came up with two big saves in the extra frames to preserve the tie. Abington outshot Berks by an 18-11 margin for the game.
Andre Lynahping (Philadelphia, Pa.) and
Dan Saint-Pol both received yellow cards in the game.
As a result of the tie, Abington's record now stands at 0-3-2 on the season (0-0-1 NEAC). They will return to action this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. where they will take on the SUNYIT Wildcats at Hatboro-Horsham High School in Horsham, Pa. for their 2014 home opener. You can follow live game stats and video of the game right here on
www.abingtonsports.com.
