The Bard College men's soccer team, making its Liberty League debut, fought valiantly but was done in by a golden goal from freshman defender Gordon Bray (New Canaan, CT) in the 98th minute, as Skidmore College escaped with a 1-0 victory on Wednesday night.

The winning play began with a corner kick from senior Diego Reinero (Princeton, NJ) and ended with a header from Bray, who somehow found room in the crowded penalty area to beat senior keeper Deven Connelly.

It was the 19th corner of the game for the Thoroughbreds - Bard had none.

"The guys played well," Bard coach Scott Swere said. "We just gave up too many corners."

Skidmore (1-0 Liberty League, 4-2 overall) dominated play early in the first half, although there weren't too many dangerous plays being generated. In fact, it was Bard that got the first great opportunity to score.

In the 17th minute, junior Ammar Al-Rubaiay created a turnover at midfield, got the ball to Dam Linh Nguyen at midfield, and Nguyen played an excellent through ball to senior striker Jacob Hartog. Hartog ran to the near post and got off a shot that rolled just outside the far post.

For the next ten minutes, the game was played more evenly. Hartog's near miss seemed to temper Skidmore's urgency to push forward.

That urgency returned, though. By the end of the first half, the Thoroughbreds to dominating again, gathering corner kicks in bunches but not getting any excellent shots on goal. At halftime, Skidmore had a 4-3 advantage in shots and a 7-0 edge in corners. It was still 0-0.

In the second half, Skidmore pushed the pace even more, and Bard spent much of the last 45 minutes of regulation on its heels. Skidmore outshot Bard 10-2 in the second half and had eight corners to Bard's none. It seemed to be only a matter of time before one of these crosses into the box would end up behind Connelly, but the threat of Hartog breaking away always loomed.

In the end, the law of averages caught up with the Raptors and Bray ended it in dramatic fashion.

Connelly made five saves for Bard (0-1, 2-4). Next up for the Raptors is SUNY New Paltz on Sunday at 1.