photo gallery by Niko Duffy '13
NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- Despite allowing the first goal, the Carleton College Men's Soccer team fought back to win 2-1 in overtime against St. John's University on Saturday. A total of six yellow cards and a red card were awarded in the Knight's MIAC opener.
Play in the first half was balanced; both teams recorded several shots on goal before Micheal Coborn of St. Johns University found the back of the net in the 27th minute. Coborn received a well-placed through-ball from teammate Simon Plata, and snuck a shot through the outstretched hands of Carleton goalie James Neher (So./Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi).
Both teams kept up the pressure, with play starting to get a little rough in the last ten minutes of the first half.
After the halftime break, fouls continued on both sides despite both teams receiving cautionary yellow cards. The Knight's did well to get the ball to the offensive side of the field thanks to some long serves from defender Neil Bartholomay (So./St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), but were unable to put any points on the board.
Finally in the 59th minute, Miles Silbert (Sr./St. Louis Park, Minn./St. Louis Park) found Will Cocoran (So./Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) in the box. Cocoran beat his defenders, and shot to the far right post, tying the match with his his second goal of the season.
Rough play escalated on both sides following the equalizer. Six more yellow cards were handed out - two to Carleton and four to St. John's. Finally in the 85th minute, Austin Parker , a defender from St. John's, received his second yellow card of the day for interfering with a Carleton free kick and was ejected from the game. Carleton, now playing a man up on St. John's, dominated the final 5 minutes but were unable to score a game winning point before the 90 minutes ran out.
However, the Knights carried their momentum into the 10 minute, golden-goal overtime period, scoring after just 57 seconds of play. Silbert received the ball up front, turned on his defender, and shot a low ball into the left side of the next to secure the win.
"Today was a typical hard fought MIAC match and we were fortunate against a very good and determined St. John's team," said Carleton head coach Bob Carlson. The Knights (2-2-1, 1-0 MIAC) hope to repeat their winning performance next Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. against Luther College.
