The Berkeley College New Jersey men's soccer team improved to 2-0 on the 2017 campaign, as the Knights defeated Washington Adventist on Saturday evening by a score of 3-2 in overtime in a contest played at the Shock's Turf Field in Takoma Park, Maryland. With the loss, Washington Adventist dipped to 1-1 on the season.
"Our guys showed a bend-but-don't-break mentality here this evening" Head Coach Bruno Ferreira said. "Washington Adventist gave us everything it had – especially in the latter stages of regulation. We were able to handle adversity despite relinquishing a two-goal lead, eventually getting the goal from Lucas in overtime to keep us unbeaten. I'm proud of the guys, and I feel as though we can be a force this season on a National level."
The Knights took the lead fairly quickly in this one, scoring right out of the gate when veteran Lucas Vasconcellos would score an unassisted goal to put Berkeley College ahead by a score of 1-0. That would be the only goal of the first stanza, as the Knights held that edge until the 50th minute when Jefferson Rincon would gather a pass from Kevin Soares before slipping the ball past Shock goalkeeper Reynero Pacheco to catapult the Knights to a 2-0 advantage.
Despite the two-goal cushion, Washington Adventist would still mount an impressive comeback to tie the game. Through 78 minutes, the Knights had controlled the tempo – and it looked as though they would win this one convincingly. The Shock – however – would then score two goals in a span of three minutes – the first from Ferdinand Tadem-Djem (from Douglas Guevara) – and the other from Guevara – to knot the contest at two goals apiece.
Later – five minutes into the overtime session – Knights newcomer James Ashun would score the game-winning goal on a breakaway to give Berkeley College a 3-2 victory.
Knights goaltender Robert Parker stopped 10 shots on the evening. His counterpart – Reynoso Pacheco – stopped nine shots.
Berkeley College will return to action on Wednesday afternoon, as the Knights will battle the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 2:00pm.