Crusaders edged in Double OT by Southwestern on Senior Day
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's soccer team dropped a tough result in double overtime to Southwestern University with a 2-1 final on Saturday afternoon. It was a competitive match that was nearly even in several categories throughout the match. The Pirates got the winning goal by Mofe Ariyo from Skyler Frey at the 100:51 minute mark.
Southwestern took a 1-0 lead with Nathaniel Blake connecting in the 16th minute. Luis Ramirez had taken a shot prior to that and UD goalkeeper Goncalo Pernas (Lisbon, Portugal) made the save on that attempt before Blake buried it.
Those were the first two shots of the match for the visitors, as UD had four of its five first half shots taken by that scoring juncture. Nat Kajiwara (Southlake, Texas) had two and Brady McNamara (San Antonio, Texas) was on frame. Tomas DePetris (Houston, Texas) was the other attempt as the trio of seniors among nine recognized after the match gave their best on the pitch on the afternoon.
It was two seniors, being Chase Reynolds (Southlake, Texas) and Kajiwara, that put the Crusaders back in the game. The duo from the same high school Southlake Carroll High School knotted the match at 1-1 at the 50:58 mark. Reynolds scored his fourth goal of the season, which tied a season-high for the third straight year. It was the first assist this spring for Kajiwara and second match in a row to notch a point.
The Pirates ended up with six shots in the first half, but were stopped four times by Pernas with that amount of saves. The second half favored the home team 5-2 in shots. Overall UD would outshoot Southwestern 11-10 in the match, but the Pirates held a 7-3 edge in shots on goal. The possession percentage was nearly the same, with Southwestern having the advantage 52% to 48%.
Things couldn't be decided in regulation, so Dallas played its third overtime match this season. SU took its lone shot in the first overtime early on and were called Offside seconds later. Late in the period, UD took a corner kick and McNamara missed a shot wide as time expired.
The next play was less than a minute into the second overtime as Ariyo punched a shot left of Pernas on the right side of the field for the golden goal.
Afterwards, Dallas honored nine seniors that included: Reynolds, DePetris, Kajiwara, McNamara, Nate Riddle (Millsboro, Del.), Cody Briggs (Houston, Texas), Caleb Strange (Argyle, Texas), Nicholas Opsahl (Boerne, Texas), and Joe Christopherson (Swanton, Ohio).
The goal by Reynolds gave him 46 points for his career, which put him in 13th place alone for most points in a career at UD.
Dallas dropped to 2-5-1 overall and in the league, while the Pirates moved to 4-0-2 in both overall and conference.
