Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw with Molloy College through 110 minutes, but ultimately fell to the Lions in an eight round penalty kick shootout (7-6) on Saturday in the East Coast Conference Men's Soccer Championship Final at Spartan Field in Sparkill.
The victory gives Molloy (9-6-5) its second tournament crown in program history and first since 2008, along with an automatic bid in the upcoming NCAA Division II Men's Soccer tournament. Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas closes their outstanding season, going 10-3-4 in 2021.
The match against the Lions was the team's fifth of the year that went past regulation time. Despite the equality in scoring, the Spartans earned an overall advantage in shots (16-12), while Molloy held the corner kicks mark (7-2) on the afternoon.
Molloy got on the scoreboard in the third minute of the match, as Danny Muir would head a corner kick by teammate Oscar Magnusson past STAC keeper Asier Vegas to give the visitors the early 1-0 lead.
Jorge Umana tied things up for the Spartans in the 32nd minute, placing a free kick inside the right post, past Lions keeper Nick Conklu to make it a 1-1 game.
No further scoring would occur in the opening half, with St. Thomas Aquinas holding a slim two-shot advantage over the Lions at 8-6.
After the break, the teams continued to look for the right opportunity to break the stalemate, but timely saves and solid defense kept things scoreless through the first 34 minutes of play in the second stanza.
However, just as the teams settled in for what looked to be a match headed for extra time, the contest was stopped and the field cleared due to thunderstorms passing through the Lower Hudson Valley. The teams, officials and fans returned to the pitch after about a one hour delay with the same energy, passion and enthusiasm as when they left. Unfortunately, it did not translate to a goal being scored by either side as regulation time expired.
In extra time, Molloy registered four of the five shots taken across the two 10-minute overtime periods, with all four being saved by Asier Vegas. STAC's lone strike came off of the foot of Benjamin Lidh, which went high over the net. As the match remained deadlocked, a penalty kick shootout would be needed in order to determine a winner and crown a champion.
As fans moved to the Spartan Field fence line in order to get a good view of the shootout, both teams sent their first 10 participants to midfield.
Once the PK shootout got underway, the first three rounds saw both sides tally goals, before both Oscar Magnusson and Amaan Aslam failed to convert their kicks in the fourth round. The teams got back to their scoring ways in rounds five through seven, making the score 6-6 and sending us to an eighth round. Jorge Umana would go first for STAC and proceed to fire a low shot at the net, which was stopped by Nick Conklu. Jonas Jacobson would then get his opportunity to end the match and send Molloy home with the ECC title. Jacobson would be successful in converting his kick to secure the victory and the championship.
Inside the Box Score
- Asier Vegas faced 10 shots from between the sticks and tallied nine of saves to move his record to 9-2-3 on the year.
- Jorge Umana's goal on the afternoon, now gives him eight on the season to go along with 23 points.
- Umana led the Spartans with five shots in the match, with all five going on goal.
- Three different Spartans (Juan Pablo Cedeno Varea, Umana & Cole Allen) had chances on-frame in the match.