Box Score The Northeastern men's soccer team fell just short in a heartbreaker in the America East championship game on Saturday, as Binghamton advances to the NCAA tournament by outshooting the Huskies in the penalty kick round, 3-2, at West Gym Field in Vestal, N.Y.
After finishing regulation and the overtime periods in a 1-1 tie, the game went to a best-of- five penalty kick session. After the Bearcats had successful kicks from Graham Munro and Ross Campbell and the Huskies had successful attempts from senior co-captain Atha Kirkopoulos and freshman Daniel Ivec, Binghamton's Bryan Arnault and Northeastern's Peter Mosconi both missed on high shots over the net.
Binghamton's Stephen Bruce scored one the team's fourth attempt, but the Huskies' Tom Heimreid had his shot blocked by Freshman Stefan Gonet, this year's Goalkeeper of the Year, putting them in a hole. Sophomore goalkeeper Sergio Saccoccio came up with a huge save though in Binghamton's fifth attempt, giving NU one more shot to tie it. The Huskies would fall just short though, as junior Andrew Hickey's shot hit the crossbar, allowing the Bearcats to advance.
The Bearcats offense pressured Northeastern's defense in the early minutes of the first half. With the wind and the sun playing against the Huskies in the first, Binghamton picked up a few good chances, but couldn't get a shot past Saccoccio. Senior co-captain defender Oumar Thiam also came up with a key defensive stop 20 minutes into the period, making a perfect slide tackle in the box to thwart a good opportunity for Binghamton.
On the offensive side for NU, Kirkopoulos gave the Huskies a couple of good scoring chances on free kicks from 25 yards out. Gonet continued to do what he did all year, keeping Northeastern scoreless in the first 45 minutes. The Bearcats held a slight advantage in shots, 3-2, heading into the break.
In the second, Northeastern got a good chance 15 minutes in, when freshman Daniel Ivec was taken down by Danilo 30 yards out. After the yellow card, Kirkopoulos put a hard shot on goal but came up empty-handed.
The Bearcats would get on the board first though, as junior Charles Darkwah got the ball down low and slipped a shot past Saccoccio at 58:22 to give them a 1-0 lead.
With 19 minutes left to play in the game, Binghamton would again have a great chance. After Saccoccio collided with a Bearcat forward, Binghamton took two close-range shots on net. Darkwah put his shot in the net on what looked to be a goal, but the sideline ref had called the play offside and the goal was disallowed. Saccoccio would also come up big with another key save on a Binghamton breakaway with 13 minutes remaining to keep the disadvantage at just one.
With their season slipping away, Northeastern finally got the break it was looking for on a corner kick. With 9:59 remaining, Kirkopoulos sent the ball in front of net. After a mix-up in front and a shot that was deflected, sophomore Tom Heimreid sent a low shot past Gonet to knot the game, 1-1.
In the first overtime, Northeastern controlled for the majority of the 10-minute period. It was Binghamton, though, that got the best scoring chance of overtime number one. Arnault had an open shot that went just wide of the net and past the diving Saccoccio, giving the Husky fans a scare.
Binghamton would again get another great chance early in the second overtime. Darkwah was all alone and took a shot that deflected off a Northeastern defender before Saccoccio made another diving save to help send the game into the penalty kick session.
Northeastern Binghamton
Pos # Player Sh G A Pos # Player Sh G A
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
D 2 Oumar Thiam......... - - - B 3 SKINNER, Pat........ - - -
D 3 Peter Mosconi....... - - - B 4 MUNRO, Graham....... - - -
M 4 Jeff Gannon......... - - - B 5 CAMPBELL, Ross...... - - -
D 5 Joe Parrish......... - - - F 8 NEILSON, Joey....... - - -
M 6 Tom Heimreid........ 3 1 - F 9 BRUCE, Stephen...... 4 - -
M 8 Aaron Birnbaum...... - - - MF 10 DANILO.............. 1 - -
F 9 Michael Cipriano.... - - - F 12 ARNAULT, Bryan...... 2 - -
F 10 Atha Kirkopoulos.... 4 - - MF 15 RAVANGARD, Darius... - - -
M 11 Daniel Ivec......... - - - MF 16 CLANCY, James....... - - -
D 18 Dave Downing........ - - - MF 17 DEEMER, Mark........ - - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
7 Andrew Hickey....... - - - 1 GONET, Stefan....... - - -
13 Jay Hanson.......... - - - 11 DARKWAH, Charles.... 4 1 -
17 Sergio Saccoccio.... - - - Totals.............. 11 1 0
19 Jay Betley.......... 1 - -
22 Brian Koslosky...... - - -
Totals.............. 8 1 0
Northeastern Binghamton
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
17 Sergio Saccoccio.... 110:00 1 5 1 GONET, Stefan....... 110:00 1 4
Shots by period 1 2 OT O2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 OT O2 Tot
------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
Northeastern........ 2 5 0 1 - 8 Northeastern........ 1 2 1 1 - 5
Binghamton.......... 3 5 2 1 - 11 Binghamton.......... 0 3 0 1 - 4
Corner kicks 1 2 OT O2 Tot Fouls 1 2 OT O2 Tot
------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
Northeastern........ 4 1 0 0 - 5 Northeastern........ 6 1 0 0 - 7
Binghamton.......... 0 1 1 1 - 3 Binghamton.......... 3 4 1 0 - 8
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team Goal Scorer Assists
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 58:22 BINGHAM DARKWAH, Charles (7) Unassisted beat keeper
2. 80:01 NU Tom Heimreid (2) Unassisted keeper
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
YC-BINGHAM #10 (57:28)
Officials: Referee: Alex Ivahnenko; Asst. Referee: Romeo Babici; Jes Warda;
Alt. Official: Frank Saddlomire; Timekeeper: Mollie Lehman; Scorer: David Berman;
Offsides: Northeastern 0, Binghamton 2.
Binghamton advances by defeating Northeastern in penalty kicks, 3-2.
