Murphy delivers in OT to lead King past SWU

October 22, 2014

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University men's soccer team pulled out a victory in an overtime affair against Southern Wesleyan University, a Conference Carolinas opponent. Ryan Murphy delivered both goals for the Tornado including a class finish, just over two minutes into overtime, to vault King over the Warriors 2-1.

After dropping their last three, King (6-7, 4-3 CC) saw themselves in a must win contest against a talented Southern Wesleyan team. The game began slowly for both teams as they combined for three shots in the opening ten minutes. In the 21st minute, the Warriors got on the board and took the lead 1-0. Off a shot from Joao Oliveira, the ball was bouncing around the goal line where the referee called a hand ball on a King defender resulting in a penalty kick.

The Tornado did not have an immediate answer for the goal but in the 33rd minute King had two promising chances. First, Hallgrimur Johannsson sent a shot that was saved by Ruben Rodriguez, the Warriors keeper. Immediately after, Murphy delivered a shot at net that had the same result, a save.

Nothing more would go for either team and we went into the half with Southern Wesleyan leading King 1-0.

To open the second half, some changes were made for King and it seemed to be the right moves. In the 51st minute, Murphy tied the game up at one. Chris Hicks sent a ball from the left side of the field to the top of the box where Murphy took one touch and sent a volley off the crossbar, straight down and into the net.

Both teams traded shots for a while that would result in nothing until Southern Wesleyan (9-6, 3-5 CC) had a promising chance. In the 80th minute, Bruno Liozzi ripped a shot from the top of the box that went just wide keeping the score all tied up at one. King switched fields and tallied two corner kicks in the 84th minute, nothing resulting from either.

The whistle blew and the game would head into overtime. Just over two minutes into the period, Murphy saw himself with the ball at the top of the box in the middle of the field off a pass from Eli Carrasco. Murphy ripped a shot into the right upper 90 beating the goalie and giving King the 2-1 win over Southern Wesleyan, a class goal.

King outshot the Warriors 16-12 and tallied eight corner kicks to their six. Cameron Sauro and Kari Sveinsson combined for three saves in the win.

The Tornado will take the field again on Saturday when they will host Erskine College at 3:00 p.m.