Cards secure top seed

The Plattsburgh State men’s soccer team was able to bounce back from a difficult loss to Geneseo (6-8-2, 4-4-1) yesterday and beat Brockport, 2-1, in double overtime to claim first place in the SUNYAC and home field advantage in the conference tournament.

It didn’t take long for either team to score in the first half. The Golden Eagles (8-7-1, 6-2-1) struck first when forward Nick Tata got a good leg on his corner kick and found midfielder Dan Turchan, who headed the ball off the top crossbar and behind PSUC goalkeeper Andy Heighington in the sixth minute.

However, the Cardinals (16-2, 7-2) finally struck gold in the 19^th minute when forward Nick Parrella beat his defender down the left sideline and crossed the ball to forward Tom Greene. Greene then lifted the ball back across the goal, where midfielder Mike Payne headed the ball past Brockport goalkeeper Casey Sullivan. Payne credited Greene for being able to get past his defender on the play.

“I’m not really sure of the build-up of the play,” Payne said. “Tommy Greene ended up beating his man, just put the ball in, I was at the near post (and) I just tried to flick it in.”

Although both teams had their scoring opportunities, the game remained scoreless for the rest of regulation.

When the game entered overtime, it had already been raining for a good portion of the second half. Three minutes into the overtime rain and hail began to come down, and the referees delay the game due to lightening.

The rain delay lasted for about 40 minutes and although it may not always be easy to come back into the game after resting for that long, Payne said he thought it may have beneficial to him and his teammates.

“Everyone was exhausted,” Payne said. “At first it was a bad thing because everyone was just going to get tight in there, but then eventually I think maybe the little rest helped us.”

When the game resumed, neither team was able to create much offensive pressure in the first overtime. However, in the second overtime, the Cards put the pressure on.

Midway through the second overtime, PSUC had a free kick just outside the box, but midfielder Matt Hamilton’s shot was off target.

Not long after, Hamilton redeemed himself.

In the 107^th minute, the Cards had a corner kick, and once the ball was crossed, midfielder Fabian Chaparro was able to get a head on the ball, which then deflected off of a Brockport defender in front of the goal, Hamilton was able to get to the ball  and put it in the back of the net.

Hamilton said he couldn’t believe Chaparro, who is one of the smaller players on the team, was able to get his head on the ball.

“Fabi won the header, (which was) crazy,” Hamilton said. “I got a little lucky (the ball came to me), but sometimes that happens in games like that.”

With the goal, the Cards were able to end the game and achieve their goal of getting home field advantage. Head coach Chris Waterbury said he couldn’t be more proud of how the Cards were able to put their loss to Geneseo behind them and beat Brockport.

“It was a great bounce back effort,” Waterbury said. “It would have been very upsetting if we had lost the game, but win or lose I was extremely proud the team.”

Waterbury also noted that with Saturday being Senior Day, he thought the upperclassmen showed great leadership throughout the game, especially captain Hamilton.

“You can’t say enough about just the absolute warrior Matt Hamilton is, just an absolute warrior,” he said.

Hamilton, who still has one year of eligibility left, said he wanted the team to play at home during playoffs because he didn’t want Saturday to be one of the seniors’ last home games of their career.

“It’s good for the seniors, I don’t want them to have their last game (be) during the regular season,” Hamilton said. “So now we get to extend their season a little bit more, at home, so we can have this great crowd that we always have. It’s great.”

The Cards have one more game left in the regular season, which is at home Wednesday at 7 p.m., against No. 17 St. Lawrence University (11-2-1).