Washington, DC – The UDC Men's Soccer Team battled a persistent opponent and wet weather conditions, but the Firebirds persevered as Freshman Tom Ryan scored the game winner in double overtime with 3:02 remaining on the clock.  The win advances the Firebirds to 3-0-1 on the season while the Griffins slip to 2-2-1. 

The contest initially schedule for last Wednesday, September 7^th was postponed to today due to severe lightening and heavy rains last week.  The bad weather once again followed the matchup today, as the rain began to fall an hour before game time and continued for most of the game.  The Firebirds and the Griffins were evenly match throughout the most of the first half until UDC tallied the first goal at the 12:45 mark on a header from freshman forwardBruno Borba (Kennesaw, GA – Allatoona HS).  The assist came off a corner kick from junior left backer Tansu Korkmaz(Istanbul Turkey – South County HS).  The match was exceptionally physical all day, with Chestnut Hill receiving six yellow cards, while the Firebirds registered one red card and two yellows.  Senior backerNana Bamfo (Upper Marlboro, MD, Largo HS) received a red card at the 31:14 mark which resulted in his ejection and the Firebirds playing down a man for most of the rest of the game.  However, Borba, who had subbed into the game at the 16:34 mark, continued to make his presence felt early and often in the first half as he notched another goal at the 4:51 mark.  Freshman forward Robel Davis (Decatur, GA – Southwest Dekalb HS) fired a crossing pass in front of the goal, Borba controlled the cross and fired it low and to the right for UDC's second goal of the game and a commanding 2-0 lead.

In what ended up being the tale of two halves, the Griffins did not give up, scoring a goal at the 33:40 mark.  Senior forward Gavin Reid redirected a crossing pass from junior midfielder Darryl Richardson.  Richardson made a nice crossing pass which Reid redirected between his legs with his back to the goal.  The Griffins continued to press forward with their man advantage, notching another goal from Reid on a penalty kick at the 14:59 mark to tie the game at 2-2.  Another key penalty occurred with 3 minutes remaining when Chestnut Hill's Bobby Stocklin picked up his second yellow card, resulting his ejection.  As the game went into the first overtime, the Firebirds were able to balance the game as they played even for the first time in over a half of play. 

The first overtime stanza came and went with the score still knotted at 2-2.  The game remained a stalemate until the 3:02 mark when freshman backer Tom Ryan (Rugby, England – Bilton School) netted the game winner for UDC on an assist from Tansu Korkmaz, his second assist of the game.

UDC Head Coach Matt Thompson had this to say about the victory, "I thought we battled through some adversity today.  It wasn't pretty at times, but we were able to get it done at the end.  I give our guys a lot of credit for sticking with it and pulling it out.  We put some points on the board, which was good to see.  We just have to keep getting better."

 The Firebirds travel to New York on Sunday to take on Queens College at 1:00 pm.

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