ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College men's soccer team nearly completed an epic comeback Wednesday evening, before ultimately falling 3-2 to Sage College in a non-conference matchup.
The Raptors (3-6-1) entered the 82nd minute down 3-0, before rattling off two goals in a five minute span. The first goal came courtesy of
Nick Shenberger's head via a
Brendan Byrne throw-in.
Byrne tossed the ball from near the penalty box line and was able to find Shenberger in the box. The striker gave the ball a little flick and beat the keeper to the right side to cut into the deficit.
From there, Bard began to play with more urgency, pushing forward with greater offensive strength. Shenberger and Byrne again linked up in the 87th minute to give the Raptors their second goal on the night.
Byrne sent a cross in from the right side off the field, near the penalty box line and was able to find
Chris Hulbert making a run toward the left post. Hulbert wasn't able to get his foot or head on it, so he used his back to direct the ball into the middle of the box, where Shenberger was waiting to tap it in.
Initially, the side official ruled the goal was disallowed because of offsides, but after a meeting with the head official, Bard was issued the goal.
Over the final three minutes, the Raptors were unable to muster up a truly threatening attack, but Sage was definitely shocked and on its heels. Luckily for the visitors, time ran out before Bard could find the equalizer.
The tough part at the end for the Raptors was the fact that the team allowed itself to go down by such a big margin before rallying back.
Earlier in the night, Sage (7-3) grabbed the lead off a perfectly set up corner kick, as Ryan Fairweather (Middletown, NY) scored on a header in the 27th minute.
In the 60th minute, the Gators of Sage scored off an identical play, as Fairweather once again scored on a headed corner kick. The two goals were his first two of the season.
The backbreaker and ultimately deciding goal came in the 82nd minute, when River Seybolt (Selden, NY) launched a shot from well outside the box. The ball flew past
Taylor Bond's outstretched arm and ricocheted off the right post and into the net.
Bond finished the game with 10 saves for the Raptors, while Michael Chiaravalloti (Torrington, CT) tallied eight saves for Sage.
The Gators outshot Bard, 22-17 overall and 13-10 on shots on goal. The visitors also took seven corner kicks to Bard's three.
Bard returns to Liberty League action this weekend, as the team travels to Ithaca to take on the newest conference member. That game is set to kickoff at noon and you can follow it right here.
