Road Woes: GWU Men's Soccer Falls at Radford 2-1 in Overtime
October 06, 2013 | Men's Soccer
Radford, Va. - The road woes continued for the Gardner-Webb men's soccer team on Saturday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs fell to the Radford Highlanders 2-1 in overtime on the road in Radford, Va.
The road loss, which is the Runnin' Bulldogs' first overtime loss of the year (2-1-1), drops GWU to 1-5 in true road contests on the season.
Gardner-Webb falls to 4-5-1 overall and 1-2 in the Big South play with the overtime defeat, while Radford improves to 4-3-2 overall and 1-0 in the League with the win.
GWU's Denzel Clarke erased a 1-0 Radford lead in the 56th minute, only to see Radford's Joe Mayer score the game-winning goal in the 99th minute to propel the home team to a 2-1 overtime win.
Both teams came out of the opening kick looking to get on the scoreboard first, as GWU's Brooks Asger registered the first shot of the match in the third minute of play to force RU goalkeeper Dane Wilson to make an early save, while the Highlanders' Bernardo Ulmo posted back-to-back shots in the eighth minute, which hit of the crossbar, and in the 10th minute, which was blocked by a GWU defender.
Over the next 10 minutes of the match, Radford got shots from Jamie Summers, Luis Grande, Stephen Hudgens and Ulmo, three of which were blocked by a Runnin' Bulldog defender, as the Highlanders continued to put pressure on the GWU defensive unit.
Gardner-Webb weathered the Radford offensive surge and looked to score a goal of its own in the 24th minute, as Clarke put a header off the crossbar which was followed up by another shot by Asger which sailed high of the goal to keep the match tied at 0-0.
GWU goalkeeper Matthew Swan made his first stop on the night on a Grande shot in the 29th minute and after the Runnin' Bulldogs' Iman Mafi placed a shot on frame in the 32nd minute which was halted by Wilson, Swan made a second save in the 42nd minute on another Ulmo scoring chance.
Radford's Garland Smith tried to put the home team on top just before the half, however, his header sailed wide of the pipes in the 44th minute as the match went into the halftime break tied at 0-0.
Play picked up in the second half, as Gardner-Webb's Ali Al-Gashamy fired a shot that flew wide and out of play in the 46th minute, while only four minutes later RU's Matt Janssen put a shot on target to force Swan to make another save in the 50th minute to keep the home team off the scoreboard.
After Swan stopped another Ulmo shot in the 54th minute, the Radford forward finally found the back of the net one minute later, as he received a pass from Hudgens on a breakaway and chipped the ball over the head of Swan to put the home team in front at 1-0 in the 55th minute. The goal was the third on the season for Ulmo.
Gardner-Webb did not allow the lead to last for long, as less than a minute later GWU's Clarke scored the equalizer to tie the match up this time at 1-1. Clarke tracked down a loose ball in front of the goal and blasted a shot from 15 yards out in the 56th minute. The goal was Clarke's team-high seventh of the season, while senior Jonas Nader was credited with the assist.
Midfielder Patrick Gürser looked to put the visiting team up for the first time in the match in the 63rd minute, as he put a shot online only to see RU's Wilson make a save on the play.
The GWU attack continued over the next several minutes, as senior defender Marius Hammersmark saw his shot attempt fly over the goal in the 66th minute, while Clarke put a shot on goal in the 70th minute and another wide of the goal in the 73rd minute as the Runnin' Bulldogs outshot Radford 4-0 over an eight minute span.
While Radford was able to get a shot off from Dario Redondo in the 77th minute, Gardner-Webb continued to control the pace of the game, as Mafi, Al-Gashamy and Gürser all recorded shots over the final 13 minutes of regulation.
However, the Runnin' Bulldogs had one shot saved by the Highlanders' Wilson and saw three other shots blocked by the Radford defense, as GWU was unable to score the go-ahead goal as time ticked away in the 90 minute match.
In the overtime period, Radford's Grande put a header wide of the goal off a corner kick in the 92nd minute, while Swan stopped a Ramzi Dridi shot attempt in the 94th minute to keep the Runnin' Bulldogs alive in the match.
The Runnin' Bulldogs then took its turn to score the golden goal, as Mafi had a shot blocked while both Al-Gashamy and Clarke saw their scoring chances halted in the box by Wilson all in the 95th minute to keep the match knotted up at 1-1.
GWU's Gurser had his look blocked in the 96th minute, as frustration continued to build for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Despite accounting for four of the six shots over the first eight minutes of the extra period, it would be the third shot from the Highlanders that would find the back of the net as Mayer lined up a shot from 20 yards out that sneaked low in to the far left corner to give the home team the 2-1 overtime win.
Both Mafi and Clarke led the Runnin' Bulldogs with five shots apiece, while Al-Gashamy and Gürser tallied three shots each in the loss.
Radford's attack was led by Ulmo's match-high six shot attempts, while Grande and Hudgens recorded three and two shots each, respectively.
GWU's Swan totaled five saves on the night, while Radford's Wilson posted seven saves in goal for the Highlanders.
Gardner-Webb outshot Radford 19-17 for the match and held a 17-10 advantage over the Highlanders in fouls.
GWU has now gone winless in each of its last four matches with its last win coming at Mercer, 2-1 in overtime, back on September 18th.
Gardner-Webb (4-5-1, 1-2-0 Big South) will return home to host Longwood on Saturday, October 12th, at 5 p.m. at Greene-Harbison Field, while Radford (4-3-2, 1-0-0 Big South) will first host the Longwood Lancers on Wednesday night, October 9th, at 7 p.m.
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| Box Score: Radford 2, Gardner-Webb 1 (OT) |
