Lafayette Hill, Pa. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Soccer team put together a second half comeback, forcing a 3-3 draw at Chestnut Hill College on Wednesday evening at Victory Field.
STAC moves to 2-1-1 on the season, while Chestnut Hill goes to 0-2-1.
In first half action, the host Griffins took an early 2-0 lead before the match was even 15 minutes old. First, Juan Ortiz tallied on a free kick from 25 yards out, putting it past Spartans keeper Felix Davies in the ninth minute to make it 1-0. Jorge Mendez doubled the Chestnut Hill lead just five minutes later on a free kick by teammate Ortiz, which was placed perfectly for an easy tap-in to the back of the net.
Despite outshooting the Griffins in the first half by a margin of 5-2, STAC remained off of the scoreboard as the teams went into the halftime break.
When the teams returned to the pitch for second half action, both squads would have early chances, but it would be Chestnut Hill who would extend its lead to three via a Jason Barragan goal, with the helper going to Juan Ortiz in the 68th minute.
What seemed to be an insurmountable lead for the Griffins, actually wasn't, and the Spartans would get a little luck on their side in the final 11 minutes of the match. Chestnut Hill Starting keeper Stephen Connor would be sent off on a red card for his conduct toward a member of the STAC squad during a scrum in the box. A yellow card just moments before gave STAC a penalty kick, which Jorge Umana converted against back-up keeper Connor McGrogan to give St. Thomas Aquinas the opening it would need for an epic comeback at 3-1.
In the final five minutes of the match, Roman Capucha would be the hero of the day, scoring twice to bring the Spartans back even. Capucha's first goal would come from inside the box via a strike just under the crossbar to make it 3-2. The game tying tally came a mere seconds later, as the freshman from Bratislava, Slovakian found his way to the front of the net to head in a rebound to square things at 3-3.
Both sides would get final chances to break the stalemate, but time would expire leaving the contest as a draw.
Inside the Box Score
- Roman Capucha tallied the first two goals of his collegiate career on Wednesday evening.
- Jorge Umana picked up his sixth goal on the season in the match.
- Joshua Heber (T, 1-1-1) came on in relief of starter Felix Davies in the second half and finished the game with one save on two shots faced.
- STAC outshot Chestnut Hill by a 15-10 margin, with eight shots going on frame.
Up Next
St. Thomas Aquinas continues its two-game road trip, taking on Roberts Wesleyan College to open ECC action on Saturday, September 10. Kick-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Rochester, N.Y.