The entirety of William & Mary’s bench stormed the field following sophomore William Esky’s goal, ending both the second golden goal period and Longwood’s hope of a win or tie as the Lancers laid sprawled in positions of dismay and disappointment. The final score read 3-2 in the Tribe’s favor after 103 minutes of play.
William & Mary (2-2-2) freshman midfielder Antonio Boustamante played the ball creating Eskay’s first shot opportunity, parried by senior goalkeeper Carl Carpenter. The scramble within the box denied the ball’s exit from the dangerous area as the rebound laid in the center of the box, ready for Eskay’s final finish.
Both teams had obvious goal-scoring opportunities in the final third during the required overtime golden goal periods. Men’s soccer head coach Jon Atkinson described the result as “disappointing.”
“Anytime you take a team to the wire and lose in the fashion that we did, it’s always going to hurt,” said Atkinson.
He added, “It could have gone either way tonight.”
During regulation, the first and second halves saw both teams go down and comeback.
Boustamante scored the game’s first 25 minutes into the first half as his low shot from the top of the box to the far-post split the Longwood (3-2-0) defense and just passed Carpenter’s hands.
In response, three minutes later senior midfielder Zach Corcoran scored a goal near post from the same position. The score carried to halftime, ending the first half tied 1-1.
Flipping the roles, Longwood came out to score the go-ahead goal 10 minutes into the second half.
A through ball by junior midfielder Daniel Campos allowed redshirt freshman Mo Jalloh to run in behind William & Mary’s defense. Jalloh slipped the shot in from a wide angle for his first career goal.
Following the goal, Longwood carried the momentum for the next 20 minutes until another play by Boustamante allowed William & Mary freshman forward Ryder Bell to retie the game 2-2 with a header.
“Some good moments allowed us to get our noses ahead, but to take the game away from the other team we need some more decisive control play,” said Atkinson. “As it was we did okay, it was an okay performance, it wasn’t an okay result.”
Boustamante had a standout performance against Longwood. The William & Mary freshman had a hand in each goal scored, tallying an assist and a goal—his second and fourth of the season, respectively.
Longwood’s dramatic home loss soured their high from two wins against strong teams, including their 2-1 upset of Navy.
The Lancers have a three day turnaround prior to facing their next opponent at home, the No. 31 George Mason University Patriots in Farmville, Virginia on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.
This will be Longwood’s first time playing the Patriots since their 1-0 loss on the road in 2012.
Atkinson felt that the team will move past this result with “inner reflection.”
“Our guys are tuned in they want this season to be something memorable, but now they’ve got to regroup,” said Atkinson.
