The old adage “all good things come to an end” rang true last night for the Light Blue (3-2-1) as the Columbia men’s soccer team suffered their first overtime defeat since 2009. Fordham (3-2) scored a highly controversial golden goal seconds before the end of the first additional period to end the Lions’ perfect record at Columbia Soccer Stadium for 2011.
With only six seconds remaining in the first period of overtime, fans were witness to bizarre circumstances. John McHugh whipped in a Fordham corner which Columbia goalkeeper Alex Aurrichio gathered. However, as Aurrichio was landing after his aerial motion to make the catch, he brought the ball in towards his body. The linesman on the far side started to flag, and a discussion with the referee led to the award of the match-winning goal for Fordham, as Aurrichio was deemed to have entered the goal with the ball. The rules state that the whole of the ball must be across the entirety of the line, and the Lions were furious, but their protests fell on deaf ears. McHugh was credited with the winner.
“It’s obviously a tough way to lose,” Lions senior captain Mike Mazzullo said. “The lesson for us, as they say, is that the first five and last five minutes in sports are the most important. That’s where
we need to improve. Our first and second half performance was good, and we need to convert that into 110 minutes.”
The subway series was, as is normal, a fiesty encounter between the Rams and the Lions, with the visitors having the better of the opening exchanges. However, the Lions defense of Ronnie Shaban, Brendan O’Hearn, Jesse Vella, and Quentin Grigsby stood firm to keep the match goal-less. (Shaban is a sports columnist for Spectator.) It was around the 20 minute mark before the Lions threatened, and they almost took the lead in the 23rd minute through Mazzullo. The midfielder, who went to high school in the Rams’ part of New York at Fordham Prep, drilled a shot from outside the box onto the right-hand post. The rebound fell to sophomore attacker Henning Sauerbier, but he was unable to beat Ryan Meara in the Fordham goal.
Meara, an All-American contender, was called into action again in the 41st minute when sophomore midfielder David Najem managed to turn inside the box and get a shot away despite being surrounded by a crowd of players. A tremendous save by the Fordham goalkeeper sent the teams in level at the break, though the Lions led the shot count 4-2.
The second half was more of the Lions’ offense, but both sides remained unable to score. Sauerbier and junior forward Will Stamatis, who has scored the game winner in both previous contests at Baker Field this season, both had chances but were unable to convert. The Light Blue almost took the lead at the death, but junior defender O’Hearn saw his header flash wide with under three minutes of regulation time left. Chances were far and few in overtime, and the Lions ended the contest with an 8-5 lead in shots, but the controversial goal condemned them to defeat.
Columbia will be back in action on Sunday when it travels to Delaware to take on the University of Delaware Blue Hens (3-0-1), who are yet to taste defeat this season. The Blue Hens go into the clash having triumphed 5-3 at Navy, prior to which they recorded wins against Canisius and Massachusetts either side of a 3-3 draw against Seton Hall. The Lions have happy memories of the encounter against Delaware last year, as they blanked the Blue Hens 3-0—the Light Blue’s biggest win since 2004. Stamatis and Sauerbier were both on the scoresheet that day, and the Lions’ third goal came from Nick Ayers, who has since transferred.
Mazzullo highlighted the Light Blue’s plans till gameday rolls around.
“We need to build on our second half against Fordham,” Mazzullo said. “We’re going to look at the tape and see what we did right and what we did wrong and take it from there. A loss is a loss and we just have to put it behind us and prepare for the next game.”
Kick-off against the Blue Hens is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 18th at 3:30 p.m.