COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the second straight game the No. 10 Coastal Carolina men’s soccer team was forced to play a double-overtime game with only 10 players on the field when the final horn sounded.  This time the Chanticleers would draw with Ohio State 1-1 at the Buckeye-hosted Bert and Iris Wolstein Classic at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

The draw moves Coastal to 1-1-1 (1-0-0, Big South) on the season as Ohio State improves to 0-2-1 (0-0-0, Big Ten).

With 1:14 to play in regulation, the drama of the game escalated as Coastal’s goalkeeper was shown a red card after coming out of the goal box to stop an Ohio State breakaway, setting up a penalty kick by the Buckeye’s Chris Hegngi. Backup goalkeeper Scott Shewfelt was forced to come in cold off the bench to face the Hegngi penalty kick. Shewfelt played the penalty attempt perfectly and easily blocked the strike. OSU’s shot on the rebound sailed just wide of the post.

The Buckeye’s would mount one more attack in the final seconds of the period. With five seconds to play, Ohio State’s Sebastian Rivas had what appeared to be a shot on an open net; however, Big South Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Kjartan Sigurdsson seamlessly stepped into goal and headed the blast off the line and out of play as time expired.

In the 73rd minute some fancy footwork by M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List member Ashton Bennett afforded midfielder Justin Portillo an excellent look at the goal from 15 yards out. However, Portillo’s rip was not to be as the ball rang off the crossbar.

Three minutes later Ohio State capitalized on a counter attack to score the first goal of the game off the foot of defender Alex Bujenovic.  Bujenovic’s shot from the left side deflected off the back of a Coastal defender and just inside the right post for the Buckeye’s first home goal of the season.

From that point on Coastal applied aggressive attacking pressure that quickly produced a trio of Chanticleer shots. The Chants evened the score in the 80th minute as Bennett, a consensus Preseason All-American, found the streaking Ricky Garbanzo with a perfectly placed cross from the left side. Garbanzo was able to take one touch and chip the ball past the Buckeye keeper for his first goal of the season.  The assist was Bennett’s second of the year and his sixth point on the young season. Bennett has scored or assisted on five of Coastal’s six goals this season.

Despite playing a man down, Coastal would immediately pressure the Ohio State defense in the opening minute of the first overtime producing shots on goal by Bennett and Uchenna Uzo.

The Chanticleers would out-shoot Ohio State 4-3 over the final 10 minutes of play; however, the Buckeye’s keeper held fast and smothered each Coastal scoring opportunity that came his way.

In the 29th minute of action the Chants were afforded a prime scoring off the work of newcomer Tevin Skyers. After maintaining possession into the left corner, Skyers played a nice pass back to Henrik Robstad who proceeded to launch a cross toward the hard-charging Shawn McLaws. Unfortunately the ball was a touch too high for the 5-foot-10 McLaws.

The Chanticleer offense, particularly Ribeiro, continued to maintain possession throughout the remainder of the half, playing the majority of the minutes in their attacking third. However, the white and teal clad Chants would go to the locker room deadlocked in a scoreless tie with the Buckeyes despite holding a 5-1 edges in shots with two of those falling on target.

Coastal Carolina finished the match with a commanding 26-10 shot advantage and a 12-5 edge in shots on goal.  The Buckeyes were booked with for four yellow cards, while Coastal received a single yellow and a red.

Coastal concludes its time in Columbus on Sunday as the Chants take on Wright State at 2:30 p.m. in the fourth and final game of the 2012 edition of the Wolstein Classic.

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