Friday, November 21, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Jacksonville men's soccer thrill ride will see another day as for a third straight game, the Dolphins used late heroics, this time scoring in 88th minute against Louisville to tie the match, 3-3, then scoring the game-winning goal only 1:02 into overtime to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Nedim Hrustic's goal in the 92nd minute of play capped off an incredible first-round match from Louisville's Cardinal Park. Jacksonville (12-8-1) opened with an early tally as Ramak Niakan Safi, the MVP of last's weeks A-Sun Championship, scored his 10th goal of the season, in only the fourth minute of play.

The lead stood for almost 30 minutes until Louisville (11-8-2) finally found the back of the net when Aaron Claphham scored his third goal of the season to level the match. The Cardinals would go into the locker room up a goal after Zachary Hernan netted his first goal of year on a sideways kick past Dolphins goalkeeper Joey Sanchez in the 44th minute.

Jacksonville battled back to tie it at two as Tony Taylor creatively worked his way inside the penalty area and took a shot that hit off the post and off Cardinal goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux. The score remained the same until the the waning minutes and in the 85th minute, Louisville reclaimed the lead off a free kick from Clapham that was redirected in off the head of Ryan McDonald.

Like they had done against Lipscomb and Campbell in the A-Sun Championship, Jacksonville found magic late. With only 1:42 remaining, the Dolphins had a free kick from outside the penalty box. Stefan Runeman beat Boudreaux and sent the game to overtime, the seventh time an A-Sun team has played an overtime game in the NCAA Tournament.

Overtime would not last long as Hrustic's goal sent the Dolphins to the second round and a date with No. 13 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The Dolphins earned the first NCAA Tournament win for the conference since UCF defeated FIU in 2004 (Gardner-Webb and UAB played to penalty kicks in 2006 with the Runnin' Bulldogs advancing). The four goals also represented the most by an A-Sun team in the tournament since 1996 when FIU hung six on USF in the first round en route to its run to the College Cup Championship game.