LAKELAND, Fla.—To close out the SEU Invite, Southeastern men's soccer team suffered defeat in a double overtime bout with Bluefield College, 3-2.
Little happened for the Fire early in the first half, as SEU seemed impatient in the final third of the field. SEU was able to hold possession for extended periods of time, but couldn't seem to find their stride in scoring range. Southeastern rattled off shot after shot of at least 25 yards, which barely troubled Bluefield's keeper, Sven Kleinhans.
In the 31
st minute, the Rams made the Fire pay for their impatience with a long shot of their own. A ball down the right wing was barely kept in on the end line by Abel Bogale, who fired a low cross into the area. The cross was deflected and bounced to the top of the box, where Joe Stacey rocketed a shot from 28 yards into the upper left corner of the net to give Bluefield a 1-0 advantage, which held until halftime.
Southeastern was not without their chances in the first half, the best of which was provided by
Jonathan Jimenez. In the 20
th minute, a ball was sent into the box on the ground, which Jimenez struck with extreme pace from about 12 yards out, but Stacey was able to get a touch on the screamer to guide it over the bar.
A flurry of goals in the second half shifted momentum back and forth. The Fire were able to even the score in the 61
st minute with an unassisted tally by Jimenez. The junior out of Cali, Colombia took a beautiful touch to settle a bounding ball inside the box and fired a left-footed shot across his body into the right side netting to tie the game at one. This marked his first goal of the 2017 campaign.
Southeastern took full advantage of their momentum swing a mere three minutes later with another strike. The Fire earned a free kick from about 30 yards out on the right sideline, which was taken by
Gustavo Rodrigues. Rodrigues floated a ball to the far post, where
Grayson Wilkes rose up and met the free kick with his head, pushing it back against the grain and into the same side netting Jimenez hit just minutes earlier.
Down 2-1 in the 64
th minute, Bluefield responded with their equalizer only 40 seconds after the Wilkes header. Joao Delgado dribbled through the Fire defense and had the ball taken off of his feet by teammate Abel Bogale. Bogale stumbled to his left but still managed to slide the ball past an onward-rushing
Jorge Navarrete to make the score 2-2.
In a match that featured 34 shots and ten corner kicks, the Rams and the Fire played a fairly even competition. Bluefield held a slight advantage in shots (18-16) and saves (8-5), while each team earned five corner kicks. Kleinhans had a game-high eight saves for the Rams, while Navarrete blocked five of eight shots for Southeastern.
After no goals in the last 25 minutes of regulation or the first ten minute half of overtime, the game headed to double overtime still knotted at two. With just 1:38 left in the second overtime period, Bluefield was able to capitalize on a Southeastern turnover for the golden goal to seal the victory. Delgado intercepted a ball near the Fire's back line and slotted it past Navarrete to end the contest and drop the Fire's record to 1-3.
Southeastern men's soccer team will be back at home on Saturday, September 9
th when they face Montreat College. The match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
