La Plume, Pa. – Matthew Neto scored 5:44 into overtime to lift visiting Berkeley College to a 4-3 overtime win over Keystone College in an exciting non-conference men's soccer game on Thursday night. The Knights improve to 6-1 on the season while the Giants, who forced overtime by overcoming a two-goal deficit in the final 16 minutes of regulation, falls to 2-3-1.
Berkley opened the scoring in the 24
th minute on Thursday evening as Calvin Carbajal scored on a shot to the far post from the top of the right side of the 18-yard box with Luiz Martins and Neto picking up assists on the goal.
Angel Perez (Miami, Fla./Dr. Michael M. Krop) had Keystone's best opportunity of the opening frame, a 40-yard blast that went just over the crossbar.
The Knights held the one-goal lead at halftime along with an 8-6 advantage in shots. The visitors also had a slim, 3-2 edge in shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes of play.
Keystone had a flurry of chances to open the second half, but it was Berkeley who found the back of the net again in the 56
th minute. Neto broke free down the left side and played a ball across the goalmouth that Eryk Rachwal slid to pike home to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
Keystone climbed back into the contest in the 62
nd minute on
Haris Sabovic (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley)'s team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Kouassi Kouadio (Mount Pocono, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) started the play with a long run down the left flank before feeding a ball to Sabovic in the center of the goal area where the senior slipped a shot inside the left goal post to make it a 2-1 game.
Anthony Hernandez restored Berkeley's two-goal advantage in the 71
st minute by curling a free kick from 25 yards out into the upper corner of Keystone's net.
Keystone battled back and made it a 3-2 game just over four minutes later when Perez one-timed home a shot off of a scramble in front of the Knight's goal following a long throw-in by
Jordan Vance (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan). The freshman's tally marked the first of his collegiate career.
Kouadio then leveled the game at 3-3 with just 4:11 left in regulation by running onto a thru-ball from
Abreham Kittel (Trumansburg, N.Y./Charles O. Dickerson) and slipping a shot past Berkeley goalkeeper Robert Parker for his third goal of the season.
The Giants nearly won the game in the final 10 seconds of regulation, but the ball stayed out of the Knights' goal following a frantic scramble in the goalmouth just before the horn sounded on the end of the second half.
Neto ended the thrilling game with a fine strike from distance in the 96
th minute, ripping a shot from 30 yards out that clipped the bottom of the crossbar before settling in the back of the net to give Berkeley the thrilling win.
Keystone held a 22-17 advantage in shots for the game including an 11-8 edge in shots on goal while the Knights had eight corner kick chances to tow for the Giants.
Parker made eight saves to pick up the win in goal for Berkeley while
Malcom Moreira (Hillside, N.J./St. Benedict Prep) made four saves in the loss for the hosts.
Keystone will next host Penn State Altoona in a non-conference tilt on Saturday afternoon starting at 1:00 p.m. on the turf field in La Plume.