FSU Needs OT to Down Seahawks

Freshman Michael Cronauer

On Saturday afternoon the FSU men's soccer team had another tough CAC contest on the road. Freshman Michael Cronauer would net the golden goal in the second overtime to give the Bobcats the 4-3 win.

The game started well for us as junior Chris Jones headed in a corner kick in front of his hometown fans just 10 minutes into the game. St. Mary's responded when a poor clearance was controlled by a St. Mary's player and then placed in front of the box for an easy score to tie the match. We responded late in the half when Yacob Kahsai took a feed from Alex Brainard who then streaked down the outside of the field and right into the box where he placed a shot just out of the range of the St. Mary's goalkeeper. Three minutes later St. Mary's would respond again when they knocked home a rebound off a free kick that was not punched away by the FSU keeper.

We held a 12-3 advantage in shots at the half and felt pretty good about how we were playing despite the two mistakes made in the back line. Unfortunately the mistakes would continue into the second half when just after 5 minutes of play St. Mary's would be awarded a penalty kick to take the lead 3-2. We kept our composure and kept pressing throughout the half. We got some good looks at goal to tie the score including our own penalty kick that was unfortunately missed. Ryan Russell played hero once again when he found the net with 9:30 remaining to tie the game. We felt like we had the momentum and kept attacking, trying to get the game winner. We finished regulation with a 24-6 advantage in shots.

The offense was very impressive in the overtime periods as we got off 11 more shots before Michael Cronauer headed home the game winner off a nice service from Alex Brainard. We are now 10-0-2 and 2-0-1 in CAC play. We are on the road Wednesday for a non-conference match against Washington and Jefferson before returning home on Saturday for a crucial CAC match up with Mary Washington.