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Berhanu’s golden goal boosts GW men to 3-2 double overtime win over Duquesne

7 Nov, 2008

Freshman Yoni Berhanu (Potomac, MD/Sidwell Friends) netted the golden goal with 53 seconds remaining in the second overtime period to give the George Washington men’s soccer team a 3-2 victory over Duquesne at Mount Vernon Field Friday afternoon.  The win gave the Colonials a critical three points in their chase for an Atlantic 10 Championship bid.
 
Playing a man-down due to a first-overtime red card and with several players sidelined with injuries, GW (8-5-3, 4-2-2 A-10) was able to get a much-needed result in its quest for the program’s first A-10 Championship bid since capturing the league’s tournament title in 2004.
 
Entering the match’s final minute, junior Andy Stadler (Wauwatosa, WI/Wauwatosa West) fed redshirt junior Luke Wildy (Crawley, England/Thomas Bennett) with a through-ball down the left wing.  Wildy chased the ball down and sent a cross into the 18-yard box to Berhanu, who settled the ball around a defender and slid a shot past charging goalkeeper Nathan Sprenkel to set-off the game-winning celebration.
 
The Colonials moved into fifth in the Atlantic 10 standings following the victory with 14 points, one point ahead of Fordham, which played to a scoreless draw at third-place Temple (17 points) Friday, and Charlotte, which visits Rhode Island (11 points) Friday night.  GW can nearly assure itself of an A-10 playoff berth with another three points in its regular-season finale against St. Bonaventure.
 
Duquesne (5-9-4, 1-6-1 A-10) did its best to play spoiler, answering both of GW’s second-half goals to force the sudden-death sessions.
 
Junior Erick Perez-Segnini (Montgomery Village, MD/Watkins Mill) broke a scoreless draw in the 49th minute when he tucked away an assist from Berhanu.  A poor Dukes’ clearance sent the ball 40-feet high in their own box and forced goalkeeper Chris Torres to come off his line.  Torres’ punch attempt dropped straight to Berhanu, who promptly played the ball to an open Perez-Segnini at the penalty spot.
 
The Dukes responded 16 minutes later on a cracking blast from Jared Gentile.  Greg Annan collected a ball at the top of the box and laid a pass off to Gentile, who one-timed a low shot to the right corner for the first equalizer.
 
GW benefited from an own goal in the 75th minute to regain a one-goal advantage as junior Nikolay Aleksandrov (Williamsburg, VA/American School of Warsaw (Poland)) sent a 50-yard free kick into the box where a Duquesne defender errantly headed the ball into his goal.
 
Annan provided the Dukes’ second equalizer with 6:36 to play via a quick restart link with Bryan Matthews and Jamie Waugh.  Waugh sent Matthews free down the right side with a quick free kick and Matthew spotted a cutting Annan in the box for the redirect goal.
 
A mostly clean match turned physical in the first overtime when GW junior Andrew Kroculick (Moorestown, NJ/Delran) was sent off in the 96th minute for a tackle on Torres 10 yards outside the goalkeeper’s box.  Torres, who made six saves on 17 shots faced, was relieved by Sprenkel, who didn’t make a save on two shots faced in 13 minutes of action.
 
Redshirt senior Matt Scheer (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) was forced to make just one save on 10 shots faced, but did well on several dangerous Dukes’ services to earn the victory.
 
With his assist on the game-winning goal, Stadler moved into a tie for 10th all-time at GW with 57 career points (22g/13a) in 46 matches.

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