BIDDEFORD, Maine – For the third consecutive season the meeting between the Wentworth Institute of Technology and University of New England men's soccer teams headed to overtime and, just like in the previous two meetings, the game ended in a tie as the Leopards and Nor'Easters played to a 1-all draw.
Wentworth ties the program record for ties in a season with four, as the Leopards stand at 4-5-4 overall (2-2-1 Commonwealth Coast Conference) while the Nor'Easters are 7-3-2 (2-2-1).
The Leopards had a chance to take an early lead when junior Max Hilchuk (Wethersfield, Conn.) headed a corner kick from classmate Sam Martins (Dartmouth, Mass.), however UNE senior keeper Aidan McParland (Brockville, Ont.) made the save.
UNE had four shots on goal between the 31st and 36th minutes, however freshman Noah Scanlon (Millington, N.J.) came up with a save on each shot to keep it a scoreless game. With less than a minute left in the half the Nor'Easters' Dexter Doucet (Newmarket, N.H.) took a shot, which was blocked by a Wentworth defender. He collected his own rebound and put a shot on net, which was saved by Scanlon with 46 seconds left.
Despite the first half ending scoreless, UNE held a 12-6 shot advantage with six of its shots going on net.
Wentworth opened the second half with a shot on goal as senior Adam Rhodes (Litchfield, Conn.) had a bid thwarted by McParland.
At the 48:41 mark, the hosts broke the scoreless tie when sophomore Ryan Stephens (Stow, Mass.) slotted a pass to freshman Darius Ntacyo (Saco, Maine). Ntacyo fed a one-touch pass to graduate student Matthew Christie (Hudson, N.H.). Christie took a shot from straight on that went past Scanlon.
The Leopards got what would be the game-tying goal at 51:40 when Martins took a free kick from just inside the midfield line where Rhodes redirected the kick to make it 1-1.
Both teams would have chances over the remainder of the second half, however neither could break the tie.
In the first overtime, the Nor'Easters had a pair of shots early on, however neither went on target. Junior Alberto Benhamu (Caracas, Venezuela) put a shot on goal near the end of the first extra session, however McParland made a save.
UNE had a 5-2 shot advantage in the second overtime, including with 1:06 remaining when a shot was cleared out by a Leopard backline defender.
Scanlon, in his collegiate debut, made seven saves while McParland made nine stops for the Nor'Easters. UNE held a 23-20 shot advantage for the match and had an 8-5 edge on corner kicks.
Wentworth hosts Western New England on Saturday, October 18, while UNE hosts Southern Maine this Tuesday.
