Men’s Soccer Ties Jefferson In Double OT

The Spartan men's soccer team faced Jefferson Community College at Emerson Park in its second Mid-State Athletic Conference match-up.  Cayuga started well with good possession and ball movement in the Jefferson half with some early shots on target to test the Jefferson Keeper Samuel Lyndaker. The Spartans threatened and nearly scored with Nahayo Manasse (Syracuse, NY) hitting the post in the first 20 minutes of the game.  

The Spartans came out strong in the second half again testing Lyndaker. Jason Boxx (Brentford, England) and William Backhouse (Swinton, England) came the closest with shots on target… but Lyndaker made some good saves to keep Cayuga from scoring. Backhouse came within an inch to put the Spartans ahead in the first 15 minutes of the second half with some fantastic change of speed and ball control, only be denied by the crossbar from 5 yards out after he beat most of the Jefferson team and goalkeeper.

After regulation ended in a scoreless tie…the game continued with two scoreless overtime periods resulting in the 0-0 tie. Cayuga outshot Jefferson 30-4 with Bior Ajak (Syracuse, NY) picking up his second shutout of his collegiate career and finishing up with 3 saves.

Coach Wynne had this to say… " Well it was a good contest but a frustrating one in my book to watch. When you have that many shots in a game and not score one is unlucky, very unlucky. Will Backhouse came the nearest to scoring but hit the crossbar. I think we hit all of the posts on both goals in the match of over 110:00 minutes, but that is the game of soccer no matter what way you look at it. We need to do a better job finishing our chances to take the win instead of being stuck with a tie. The team felt like this was a loss… but a tie is a tie… and we just have to convert our chances and we had a bunch. The team put a lot of effort into the game tonight and I'm proud of their hard work. They gave it their all."

The Spartans are now 1-0-1 in MSAC play and 1-2-1 overall in Region III … travel next to Broome for their MSAC match on Saturday 9/15 at 3:00pm.