DALLAS, Pa.--John Remsberg knocked in the golden goal after 102 scoreless minutes on Tuesday night to give Eastern University Men's Soccer the 1-0 sudden victory over the Misericordia University Cougars.
Remsberg, a 6-foot-2 junior center back, came all the way up into the Cougars' box for an Eagles corner kick two minutes into the second period of extra time. Eagles' senior Benjamin Barnhart lined up to take the corner and served an in-swung ball into box. Remsberg elevated and headed the ball over the hands of the Cougars' keeper for his first goal of the season, breaking the scoreless tie and giving the Eagles another important Freedom Conference win.
Eagles' head coach Mark Wagner commented that the way they scored was a reversal of what they had anticipated based on the scouting report. "Misericordia is a good team in the air," he said. "We thought they would be dangerous on restarts and that we would give them fits in the open field. For us to score off a restart was huge."
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in Tuesday's NSCAA Mid-Atlantic regional poll , improved to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the Freedom Conference, placing them alone at the top early in conference play. Misericordia, now 8-5-2 (2-1 Freedom), had been the only Freedom team to beat Eastern in the regular season last year.
Misericordia and Eastern battled through the 90 minutes of scoreless regulation time with a handful of opportunities. Coach Wagner noted that Misericordia dropped its backline deep and made it difficult for the Eagles to generate great chances. At the end of the first half, Eastern had taken six shots and Misericordia seven. The Cougars out-shot the Eagles 14-11 overall. Eagles' goalie Jamie Stratton denied five Cougars' shots on goal and recorded his third shutout in a row. In four games played this year, Stratton has just allowed one goal, improving his GAA to 0.25. "Jamie was outstanding," Wagner said. "He was dominant in the air, going after 50/50 balls and sacrificing his body."
Stratton recorded one save in the first half of extra time, helping the Eagles continue into the second overtime. The Eagles earned two corner kicks in the second overtime and had a shot by Eric Giovagnoli miss early in the 103rd minute. The Eagles soon took another corner kick, which proved to be the game-winning play. Barnhart's corner kick was his third assist this season.
Eastern hosts Delaware Valley College on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
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