JOHNSON, Vt.- The Northern Vermont University-Johnson men's soccer team faced off against Rivier University on Sunday afternoon. The Badgers tied the Raiders 3-3 in double overtime.
SCORING
1st Half:It was a physical game for both sides early in the first half. Tyler Cirillo capitalized to open the game up in the 9th minute of action scoring an unassisted goal to give the Badgers the early 1-0 lead. It was in the 10thminute that Anthony Zucco put the Raiders on the board to tie the game up 1-1. The Raiders controlled the pace and mid-way through the half Pedro Lopez of Rivier netted a goal of his own.
NVU-Johnson had opportunities to score and looked to even the side but Rivier was composed and contained the ball for the majority of the first half. In the 40thminute of action Jack Battistoni crossed the ball to Nathan Gomez and Gomez rose up for the header to knot the score at 2-2 headed into halftime.
2nd Half: The physicality in the second half picked up as both teams wanted the go-ahead goal. It wasn't until the 53rdminute that Kalvin Cortes of the Raiders scored an unassisted goal to put Rivier up 3-2. With the Badgers in attack mode they found opportunities to get the ball in close and in the 81stminute a pile up resulted in an own goal that was credited to Silas Lowenthal to tie the game at 3-3.
OT
Neither team capitalized in extra time and the contest resulted in a 3-3 tie.
STATS LEADERS
Goals: Rivier- Lopez, Cortes, Zucco (1) NVU-Johnson- Cirillo, Gomez, Lowenthal (1)
Assists: NVU-Johnson, Battistoni (1)
Shots on Goal: Rivier, Lopez (4)
STATS BREAKDOWN
Shots (On Goal): NVU-Johnson- 20 Rivier- 13
Goalie Zach Blaser played 110:00 min in goal for the Badgers and recorded six saves.
UP NEXT
Men's Soccer is set to host SUNY Delhi for a North Atlantic Conference match-up on Saturday, September 14 at 1:00pm.