WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Sophomore Felix Rosen (Stockholm, Sweden) scored on both of his shots, bouncing in a 12-yard shot from the middle of the box eight minutes and 27 seconds into sudden death overtime Saturday afternoon to lift the Plymouth State University men’s soccer team to a 2-1 Little East Conference win over Eastern Connecticut State University at Thomas Nevers Field.
On the only shot of overtime, Rosen settled a pass from the right wing from sophomore R.C. Mooney (Roseland, N.J and bounced a shot past Eastern freshman keeper Jay Barney (Mansfield, Conn.) inside the left post. Mooney had run to a ball sent by junior Steve Balgach (Fairfield, Conn.) down the right side, turned to his left and left-footed the ball over the head of an Eastern defender to an unmarked Rosen. With his back to the goal, Rosen knocked the pass down, dribbled once, and sent a ground ball inside the far left post for the game-ending goal.
Rosen scored on both of the shots he took in the match — the first one giving Plymouth State a 1-0 lead with two minutes left in the first half. That goal was also set up by Balgach, who sent a long pass down the middle of the field to a wide-open Rosen, who beat Barney in a one-on-one situation. Barney, last week’s conference Rookie-of-the-Week, had not allowed a goal in his last 377 minutes and 42 seconds.
Eastern tied the score four minutes into the second half when senior midfielder Zac Griffin (Manchester, Conn.) buried a through-ball from junior Kevin Marshall (Baltic, Conn.) inside the right post from six yards. The goal was the first in the career of Griffin, who nearly gave Eastern a 2-1 lead with five minutes left in regulation, but his hard shot hit the inside of the left post and spun out.
Rosen, a second-team all-conference pick as a freshman, recorded the game-ending goal in sudden death overtime for the second straight year against Eastern. Last year, he scored the only goal of the match five minutes into overtime at Plymouth, N.H.
PSU senior keeper Dan Custance (Holderness, N.H.) made all three of his saves in the second half. Barney ended up with five saves for Eastern.
The Panthers, 6-3-0 overall and 2-1-0 in conference play, travel to Colby-Sawyer Tuesday for a non-conference encounter (3:30 p.m.), while Eastern, 2-7-2 overall and 1-2-0 in the Little East, visits Salve Regina University Thursday in a makeup game at 4 p.m.
(Courtesy Eastern Conn. Sports Information)
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