Greinerball survives and advances!
The opening round of the 2021 NCAA tournament needed penalty kicks to decide a winner as the Emory University men's soccer team prevailed over Centre College Saturday afternoon at the Woodruff PE Center in Atlanta, GA.
After playing to a 1-1 draw across 110 minutes of action, the Eagles and Colonels went to a penalty kick shootout with the Eagles coming away with a 4-3 victory. Emory now advances to face Hanover College in the NCAA Second Round at 3:00 PM Sunday afternoon at the WoodPEC. The Panthers defeated the University of Lynchburg, 2-1, in overtime in the second game played on Emory's campus on Saturday.
Through two rounds of penalties, the Eagles and Colonels were knotted at 2-2 with senior Nate Sampson and junior Alejandro Gomez converting for Emory. Centre, however, was able to move ahead in the third round with Nafiz Budeiri converting following a denied attempt by senior Ethan Cohen.
Senior Charlie Scruton evened the score at 3-3 with his successful make to begin the fourth round. Senior goalkeeper Jack Hudson gave the Eagles life with a huge stop on Jean-Karlo Gonzalez's shot. In the fifth, senior Max Mehlman gave Emory the lead as he muscled a shot past the Centre keeper, setting up a must-make for the Colonels' Michael Vogt. As Vogt stepped to the spot, he was unsuccessful as his shot sailed over the crossbar to give the Eagles the PK win.
Following a scoreless first half, Scruton cracked the scoring column first for the Eagles as he headed in a pass from Cohen in the 61st minute. The goal was Scruton's fifth of the season with junior Luke Price also assisting on the goal.
The lead was short lived as Centre found the equalizer in the 73rd minute with Sota Ippongi scoring off the feed from Gonzalez.
The Colonels outshot Emory 5-3 in the overtime session with one being on target but Hudson was there to make one of his four saves on the afternoon.
For the contest, the Eagles finished ahead in shots, 15-13, and corner kicks, 8-6, while both teams were even with five shots on goal.
Emory will head into the second round with a 9-3-5 overall record with Centre closing out its season at 10-5-4.