The Albertus Magnus College mens soccer team earned a hard fought 2-2 tie in double overtime this afternoon.
The Falcons outshot Westfield 20-12 on the afternoon with Westfield State senior goal keeper Keith Hevey (Chicopee, Mass.) making 11 saves including several key saves late in the game to preserve the tie..
In just the third minute of play, Hevey turned away sophomore Matt Mueller's (Cheshire, Conn.) shot on goal to keep the game 0-0. The 8th minute of play featured senior forward Dom Cavallini (Springfield, Mass.) scoring off of Albertus freshman goal keeper Griffin Volta (Orange, Conn.) to give visiting Westfield State the early 1-0 lead.
The Falcons would respond just two minutes later when sophomore Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) finished the rebound off of his own penalty kick that was initially turned away by Hevey. Albertus would hold a 7-2 shot advantage in the first half with the scored tied at 1 going into halftime.
Albertus would test Hevey all afternoon as he made another key save in the 59th minute turning away freshman forward Matt Stoll's shot away to keep the game tied. The 73rd minute featured Alexis Garcia (West Haven, Conn.) scoring a beautiful goal over Hevey as he was falling to the ground. Mueller and senior midfielder Lindsley Barrett (Shelton, Conn.) featured back to back passes in traffic before it reached Garcia's right foot.
Westfield would respond just three minutes later in the 76th minute of play as junior forward Zack Horn (Carver, Mass.) finished a through ball pass from sophomore midfielder Cody Baglow (Amherst, Mass.) to tie the game at 2.
Zapata was stopped with under a minute to play in regulation as Hevey made another spectacular point blank save to force overtime. The first overtime featured one shot from each team including Stoll's shot early in the period that was saved by Hevey.
The second overtime featured another spectactular full extension save from Hevey as he stopped yet another point blank shot off of the leg of Zapata. The Falcons would get one more scoring opportunity when Barrett made a nice bid just missing wide with under two minutes remaining in the contest. Volta would make six saves on the afternoon for Albertus.
Albertus improves to 1-0-1, 0-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play while Westfield State improves to 1-1-1 overall. The Falcons travel to Regis College on Saturday for a non-conference match scheduled for a 1:00 pm kick-off.
