Old Westbury, NY After trailing 3-0, the Old Westbury mens soccer team bounced back to tie the game at five, forcing overtime in todays Skyline Conference finale. The two teams battled through the darkness through scoreless overtime frames, resulting in a 5-5 draw. The Panthers finish the season with 5-11-1 overall record and a 1-7-1 mark in the Skyline conference.
4:45 into the game, Steve Bodei received a cross from the far side of field and shot the ball on the run behind Panther goalkeeper Brian Hicks for the 1-0 lead. The Cyclones took a 2-0 lead 12 minutes later when Brian Engisch sent the ball from the backfield in the air over the midfield line. Kissinger Barreau, breaking from the left side, met up with the ball and beat Hicks one-on-one. Josh Stearns added another goal at the 35:01 mark, giving Centenary a 3-0 advantage.
Old Westbury finally responded, getting itself on the board with a penalty kick three and a half minutes later. Centenary goalie Donnie Iudica committed a foul, resulting in the free kick. Alex Renwart connected on the free kick, making the score 3-1 at the half.
At the 50-minute mark, Brandon DeNoyer scored for Old Westbury, cutting the lead to one. After a defensive miscue by the Cyclones resulted in a scramble in front of the net, Shawn Holland tipped it to DeNoyer, who rotated and tapped the ball into the net.
Centenarys Barreau and Andrew Clifton scored back-to-back goals over a two minute span to take a 5-3 lead, seemingly putting the Panthers out of the game. Old Westbury, however, once again answered, as Renwart blasted a shot into the net from 10-yards out, kicking off the first of three-straight Panther goals.
Bryan Smiths goal off a pass from Clifton Jourdain made the score 5-4 as time began to run out. The Panthers continued to attack over the next three minutes and, as the field began to darken, Holland knotted the score at five with a header off of a throw-in from Kyle Nolan with just 48 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
DeNoyer nearly tallied the game-winner in the first 10-minute OT session, but his header from 5 yards away was stopped by Iudica. The Panthers had another attempt late in the second overtime session, but Iudica once again blocked a header, this time from Holland on the same play in which he scored the game-tying goal earlier in regulation.
Neither team connected in overtime and the game ended 5-5 after 110:00 minutes of soccer.