Soccer update--Mens

Sam Monroe
Special to the Critic

LSC bags another soccer win.

It took the Lyndon State Men’s soccer team 12 extra minutes, but the Hornets handed Norwich its first loss of the season on October 8 with a 2-1 win.

“It was real exciting,” said Darren Roberge, a junior striker for the Hornets who scored the game-winning goal just two minutes into the second overtime period.

Norwich University struck first, scoring with more than 39 minutes remaining in the first half, and showing why they had yet to lose on the season. The rest of the game would prove to be very defensive.

Lyndon goalie Jeff Giroux made 10 stops, often stealing the show with aggressive and acrobatic saves; while the rest of his team played sound defense in front of him.

The half started to turn towards Lyndon’s favor when a Norwich player was called offside with 20 minutes left.

Lyndon had several good chances and made the best of it with two minutes to go in the half when freshman Devin Bugbee was fouled inside the Norwich defensive end. On the free kick senior Kyle Hessler placed the ball perfectly between the goaltenders hands and the left corner post of the net, knotting the game at one a piece.

The second half proved too much like the first half with hard defensive play and the goaltenders often stealing the show. Both teams had several scoring opportunities, and several shots that either went just high or just wide of a wide-open net.

With just over four minutes to play, Norwich University had a chance to put the game away when a player headed the ball in the direction of the net. It appeared as if it was going in until Lyndon goalie Jeff Giroux got his finger tips on it just enough to change it’s course sending it right over the top of the net. That would prove to be the best chance for either team in the second half as regulation play ended tied at one.

In the first overtime Giroux would have a similar save tipping this one as he fell to the ground changing the course of the ball once again, and forcing the ball to tip off of the cross bar and allow the game to continue.

A minute into the second overtime goalie Jeff Giroux drop kicked the ball about half way down the field. A Norwich defender jumped up to head the ball but hit it in the wrong direction, allowing for Lyndon’s Darren Roberge to take it on a break away and score the winning goal, sending the entire Lyndon team off the bench and into celebration frenzy.

The victory improved Lyndon State’s record to 5-5 while the loss was Norwich’s first knocking its record to 10-1-1.