Sept. 24, 2003

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - Adelphi dropped an overtime thriller to Columbia by a score of 3-2. With the loss Adelphi falls to 4-2-1 and Columbia improves to 3-1. Columbia and Adelphi played a back and forth battle in the first half and entered half time tied at 0-0.

Marlon McEachnie opened the scoring four and a half minutes into the second half when Matt Sether collected a ball and streaked down the left sideline. Sether crossed the ball into the box where McEachnie settled it, turned and fired a shot past Columbia's Dean Arnaoutakis.

Columbia countered minutes later on a goal by Scott Waddell. Waddell received a cross from Sekou Cox, and struck a well placed ball that beat Adelphi goalie Tom Cunningham. Waddell's goal came just three minutes after Adelphi's and seemed to give the Lions momentum.

Over the next 15-20 minutes Columbia went on the attack and put a lot of pressure on the Adelphi defense. Gary Sullivan had another strong game in the air for the Panthers, and Matt Sether and Tal Lahav also played strong. But Adelphi's defense finally gave way, and the Lions took advantage. A Columbia player received a through ball and got behind the Panther defense. He was one-on-one with the goalie; Cunningham came out to meet him and broke up the play but was called for a foul. Stephen Foster converted the penalty kick to give the Lions a 2-1 advantage.

The Panthers seemed to take the momentum back from Columbia and started to pressure the Lion defense. Sigurd Riksfjord was in the Lion penalty box and was going after a loose ball, when he was taken down by a Columbia defender. Adelphi was given a penalty kick, which was converted by Jose Castillo.

The first overtime was played very back and forth with both teams making runs on goal. But Columbia seemed to have the edge in quality opportunities and Cunningham made two key saves in the first overtime to keep Adelphi in it. Two minutes into the second overtime Ajene Green netted the game winner. Green was able to beat three Panther defenders to a ball in Adelphi's box and then strike a shot past Cunningham.

Cunningham finished with six saves, while Arnaoutakis collected four saves. Adelphi returns to action this Saturday, September 27th when they travel to Howard University. The game will be played at 1 pm