WORCESTER, Mass. – University of Hartford senior Omar Tall countered an early second-half Holy Cross goal in the 65th minute, but neither team would hit the back of the net for the remainder of the night as the Hawks and Crusaders played to a 1-1, double overtime draw in their season debuts at Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium. With Tall's goal, the third of his career, the Hawks earned the tie and are 0-0-1 on the season, joining Holy Cross with the same record.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• Sending the game into a scoreless tie at the halftime break as Hartford was unable to convert on its first scoring opportunity, an Udi Cohen shot from six yards out, Holy Cross broke the game open on a Peter Ayers goal in the 57th minute of action. The home team would not hold the advantage for long, though, as Omar Tall found the back of the net in the 65th minute to make it a new match.
• Tall was then assessed a red card with two minutes remaining in regulation, forcing the Hawks to play a man-down for what proved to be the remaining 22 minutes of the game.
• Sophomore keeper David MacKinnon, who finished with five saves, made key saves in the overtime periods to preserve the tie. He stopped a header from Will Bowers from point-blank with 7:30 remaining in the first overtime before making the stop on another header, this one from Ayers, in the closing seconds of the match.
• Hartford also had a chance to end the match in the final 100 seconds of the second overtime period as freshman Romaine Williamson got his head on a ball inside of the 18-yard box, but his attempt out of the corner kick scrum went wide to the left.

GOALS RUNDOWN:

• Peter Ayers pushed a pass ahead of the Hartford defense, allowing Arno Rupp to slip a low ball from 12 yards out to the left of David MacKinnon in the 57th minute for the first goal of the match
• Omar Tall, a senior, was quick to counter for the Hawks as he scored just over eight minutes later (65') on a rebound from an Udi Cohen shot to tie things up at 1-1.Cohen's shot richoted off the right crossbar and bounced to Tall, who sent the ball in to even the score.

TWEETABLE NOTES (140 characters or less):

• Hartford remains unbeaten against Holy Cross in the last five meetings, going 3-0-2 with tonight's tie
• In season openers, the Hawks improve to 16-12-3, moving to 5-2-1 over their last eight season debuts
• Head Coach Tom Poitras moves to 2-1-1 in season openers since arriving at Hartford
• Omar Tall, a senior forward, netted his third career goal in the draw with the Crusaders
• In just eight career games with the Hawks, sophomore Udi Cohen has a pair of assists
• Making five saves, sophomore David MacKinnon increased his career total to 55

UP NEXT:
Hartford resumes action on Monday night when it welcomes the Northeastern Huskies into Al-Marzook Field at Alumni stadium for its home opener. Kickoff for the Labor Day matchup is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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