MADISON, N.J. - Senior
Brandon Jimenez headed in a pass from sophomore
Christian Tyson in the 94th minute and the Drew University men's soccer team posted a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over Elizabethtown College in Landmark Conference (LC) action Saturday evening in Ranger Stadium.
It was the second straight OT win for the Rangers (7-7-1, 4-1-1 LC) who clinched a spot in the upcoming Landmark Conference playoffs. The Blue and Green entered the game in a four-way tie for first place in the Landmark standings but are now tied only with Catholic atop the conference.
Drew also defeated the University of Scranton 1-0 in overtime on Wednesday. The Rangers have now won their last three matches.
Jimenez, who also assisted on Drew's opening tally, collected his second career game-winning goal but his first golden goal.
It was a defensive battle in the early going, with the two sides accounting for just five total shots in the first half.
Drew began to break through offensively in the second stanza, however, firing off four shots on goal in a seven-minute span early in the period. The Rangers finally broke through with just under 10 minutes left, when Jimenez gained possession near midfield, dribbled around a defender, and sent a nice pass forward to freshman
Kevin Kiernan. After taking a quick dribble, he drilled in a shot from inside the box for his team-leading eighth goal of the season to put the Rangers up 1-0. Kiernan has now scored in four consecutive games.
Less than a minute later, the Blue Jays tied it up, when Pedro Guizardi threaded a pass through a pair of defenders to Jake Groh, who tapped in a slow-rolling shot across the goalmouth and into the left side of the net. The two sides combined for just one shot on goal over the rest of regulation and it was a 1-1 game heading into overtime.
The Rangers closed it out just over three minutes into the extra session, when Kiernan sent a cross through the box that was tracked down by Tyson on the right flank. Tyson chipped a pass into the box to Jimenez, who leaped high to head a shot over the defense. The ball bounced to the right of a diving goalkeeper and into the back of the net, setting off a Ranger celebration on the field.
Drew out-shot Elizabethtown 12-7 for the game and yielded only two shots on goal for the night. Senior
Calum Erlenborn made one save to earn the win in goal for the Rangers while Kelvin Del Cid collected six stops for the Blue Jays.
The Rangers close out the regular season next Saturday, when they visit Moravian University at 4 p.m. in a Landmark Conference match.