HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Southern Virginia University men's soccer team battled with Eastern Mennonite Wednesday night, scoring a goal in the final minute of the match to secure a tie.
From the opening kick the teams looked to get on the front foot, playing fast and breaking quickly, leading to many changes of possession.
In the 18
th minute
Josh Dubinsky was called for a foul, setting up a Royal free kick just outside the box. Ariel Bonilla sent in a dangerous ball, whipping it in with his right foot. At the back-post Mesa Dula came out of nowhere to get a head on the ball and put it back across goal finding the top right corner for the first goal of the game.
After the goal, the Knights continued to test the Royals by pressuring the ball and moving up the field with pace.
Even though Eastern Mennonite went to halftime with the lead, the teams were evenly matched statistically with both teams getting off four shots in the first 45 minutes of play.
The up and down, fast-paced game continued into the second half, starting right at the whistle.
Southern Virginia put itself in a tough position early, giving up another free kick in a dangerous position. Bonilla would again take the kick, this time playing it short to a teammate who would give a return pass to set up a shot. The ball got over the head of
Spencer Young but just missed the goal.
The Knights would get their own scoring chance from a free kick just a few minutes later. Dubinsky sent a high ball into the box from the midfield line that forced Royal goalkeeper, Andrew Arledge, to come off his line. Arledge was unable to control the ball and it bounced around inside the six before it was sent away by a defender.
On a Southern Virginia corner kick a handball was called inside the box, leading to a penalty kick.
Calum Yule grabbed the ball, placed it on the spot and stepped up confidently, hammering the shot into the bottom right corner well out of Arledge's reach.
"I've always been confident taking penalties," said Yule. "I know I can place the ball where I want it, and when I do that it doesn't matter if the keeper goes the right way or not. It's interesting watching the film back there's so much noise with the crowd and my teammates but in the moment, I don't really hear any of it. The only thing going through my head is that I get to put a goal on the board and get us back in the game."
The Midvale, Utah native has now scored in back-to-back games. "Scoring is always a confidence booster, not just for me but as a team. When someone puts the ball in the back of the net, we all feel a lift in confidence and energy and I'm happy to have done that for the boys the last couple games!"
In the 87
th minute Eastern Mennonite took a long throw from near the corner flag with the ball eventually finding its way to the foot of Ford Devualt who slotted a right footed shot past Young to take the lead for the second time on the night.
After the goal Yule got his teammates together before the ensuing kickoff. "Any time we concede a goal we get the team together and reset for a second," continued Yule. "Getting scored on can easily tear teams down mentally, the goal of the resets is to keep everybody's heads up and focused on keeping the energy positive. They scored late in the game, but there was never a doubt that our mentality wasn't going to dip. Every one of us knew that we were going to grind until the final whistle."
The Royal's goal looked to put the game to bed but the Knights would not go down without a fight.
In the final minute of the game Southern Virginia was given a free kick about 30 yards away from the goal.
Colton Oman stepped up to the ball quickly, not allowing the Eastern Mennonite wall to get set. Oman hit the ball with the inside of his right foot, curling it past the goalkeeper to knot the score at two apiece for his first career goal.
"I knew shooting was a good idea, but when the goalie and wall weren't ready I took the opportunity and gave it a shot," stated Oman. "I was pretty nervous throughout the whole thing but the adrenaline was what really took over. Once the ball went in the goal it was really exciting and fun when we all ran together and celebrated."
"It was a huge comeback for us," declared head coach
Payden Pemberton. "It shows the fight, hunger, resilience and courage from our young squad. They won't give up and they will play till the last minute of the game. They work like dogs in training and leave it all out on the field. It felt good to get a result like that in the last minute of the game."
Southern Virginia returns home to Knight Stadium to take on Methodist in a conference clash on homecoming weekend with kickoff set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 15.
"We will approach the next conference game this Saturday the same way we approach every game, with humility and hard work," continued Pemberton. "Hopefully we can take some momentum into the game."
For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's soccer, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightmsoccer on Instagram.
