Garden City, N.Y. — Head coach Gary Book and the No. 4 seeded Adelphi men's soccer team played host to No. 5 Bentley on Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the NE10 Championship.
The Panthers started off the first half hot, recording three shots in the first seven minutes, but none would find the back of the net. This would set the tone for the rest of the match as Adelphi would control possession for much of it, attack the Falcons' defense but could not find paydirt. The first half would end scoreless with the 'Cats holding a 5-2 advantage in the shot department.
The story of the second half was one of sloppy offense and a lot of cards as six were dished out in the period. Adelphi continued its offensive attack, bombarding the Falcons' back line. It looked like the Panthers were finally going to break through until the Falcons sprung free on a counter attack and were able to get the ball all the way down outside the box.
It was in the 71st minute when the most crucial call of the game was made as Gustav Attas was handed a straight red card for fouling a Falcon attacker who was trying to score. The free kick would sail wide but Adelphi was now down to 10 men for the rest of the match. Although down a player, the Brown and Gold kept pushing their offense forward and pressuring Bentley not to make a mistake. Unfortunately for them, Bentley was up for the challenge as the teams remained scoreless throughout regulation and headed into overtime.
The extra period was when fatigue would set in for both teams with Bentley beginning to take advantage of having an extra man. Santiago Arango would make a huge save in the final minutes of OT1 but in OT2, the Falcons had even more of a push. The tired Panthers were in complete defensive mode as Bentley pushed forward. Every ball in was cleared out and Arango was on top of his game. The undermanned Panthers were able to get out of extra time unscathed and the quarterfinal headed to overtime.
Pablo Herrera converted on the first penalty of the shootout and Bentley would respond. In the second round, Pablo Ablanedo just pushed his kick wide as hit clipped the post and gave the visiting Falcons the momentum.
Alessio Consoli, Richard DeBrosse and Luca Boast would all convert, as did Bentley's kick takers, leaving the match at the feet of Falcon Jack Aronson. Aronson would run up and fire the ball off of the right post, giving Adelphi new life.
Lucas Nicolaou buried his sixth round kick and the rest of the Panthers would follow suit, continually putting pressure on the Bentley penalty takers.
In the ninth round, Callum Walmsley would send a rocket just under the bar to give the Panthers an 8-7 advantage. Bentley's Luke Mollenhauer had to now extend the shootout to the tenth round. The junior kicked the ball low and to the left where Arango would make a sprawling save and sent Adelphi through to the semifinal.
The Panthers will head to No. 1 SNHU on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
