FARMVILLE, Va. – William & Mary forward William Eskay knocked in his own rebound with just over six minutes remaining in the second overtime period, as the visiting Tribe escaped with a 3-2 victory over Longwood Saturday night at the Athletics Complex.
"Whenever you take a team to the wire and lose in an overtime period, it's always going to hurt," said Longwood head coach
Jon Atkinson.
Eskay's heroics in the 104th minute ended Longwood's (3-2-0) two-game win streak, while the Tribe improve to 2-2-2 on the season. The goal came after Eskay's original shot was saved by Longwood goalkeeper
Carl Carpenter, but the rebound deflected back to the William & Mary forward and he capitalized on the opportunity.
"I actually thought we upped our level of play in overtime, but unfortunately the couple of good chances we had weren't converted," Atkinson said.
Carpenter, a senior from Charlottesville, Va., made five saves on the night on a total of 26 shots from William & Mary, while Tribe goalkeeper Mac Philips made two saves on 15 Longwood shots.
The Tribe erased a Longwood second half lead, after
Mo Jalloh scored the first goal of his Lancer career in the 56th minute. Ryder Bell answered the strike with a header off a free kick in the 75th minute, forcing Longwood's first overtime game of the season.
William & Mary opened the scoring in the 20th minute, as Antonio Bustamante struck with his second of the season. He dribbled to the top of the box and rocketed a shot into the lower right corner of the goal to give the Tribe a 1-0 lead.
However, the lead for the Tribe would be short lived, as
Zach Corcoran evened the score just three minutes later after he received a pass from
Alex Waite. The goal for Corcoran marked his first of the season.
The first half ended despite William & Mary holding a 15-4 edge in shots, as Carpenter made four sparkling saves in the period to hold the Lancers in the game.
Jalloh's goal in the 56th minute came off a through ball sent from Longwood midfielder
Dan Campos, where the redshirt-freshman from Dumfries, Va., capitalized on the opportunity with a shot that whistled by Philips into the lower right side of the goal to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead.
That's where things stood before a
Michael Durr foul in the 75th minute gave William & Mary a free kick outside the left side of the box. Bustanamante – who had a goal and an assist in the game – curled the free kick and Bell elevated and headed the ball past Carpenter to even the score.
Eskay capitalized on William & Mary's fifth shot of overtime, punching in his own rebound to allow the Tribe to escape with the victory.
The Lancers return to the Athletics Complex Tuesday, Sept. 22, as the squad welcomes George Mason. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
"We play another great team, an in-state opponent in George Mason Tuesday," Atkinson said. "Our guys are tuned in and they understand what's going on. They want this season to be special. We just need to understand what didn't go as well individually and collectively and get better from there."
#GoWood
