The Emory University men's soccer team suffered a heartbreaker of a defeat Friday night, falling to 10th-ranked Calvin College, 1-0, in double overtime at the Woodruff PE Center in Atlanta, GA.
The Knights' Sam Twigg netted the golden goal for Calvin in the 107th minute, one-timing a loose ball from the middle of the box, off the arm of a diving Jack Hudson and into the back of the net for the game winner. With the victory, the Knights improve to 5-1-2 on the season while the loss was the first for the Eagles in 2021, slipping to 1-1-2.
Emory hung with one of the best teams in Division III for the majority of the evening before ultimately falling in the second extra period. For the game, Calvin held the advantage in shots 14-11 and shots on goal at 6-4. Junior Zach Kornblum and senior Nate Sampson combined for all four shots on target for the Eagles with two apiece.
The Knights nearly ended the contest minutes prior to Twigg's game-winner as Oliver Akintade had a penalty kick opportunity in the 104th but rattled the crossbar for the miss.
Earlier in the second overtime, the Eagles had their best chance to end it as junior Trey Rielly launched a shot from 20 yards out but his attempt sailed wide.
During regulation, Emory saw near chances by Kornblum in the 28th and by Sampson in the 75th. Kornblum had a one-on-one with the keeper but was turned away while Sampson put a wrap-around shot on target but was denied by Calvin's Daniel Wunder.
For Calvin, Akintade gave the Knights their first real scoring threat in the 48th as he had a strike drill the crossbar and then in the closing minutes of regulation, Twigg had a shot but a tremendous one-handed stop by a fully-extended Hudson kept the game scoreless.
The Eagles look to rebound Saturday night as they host the University of Lynchburg in the second game of the weekend back-to-back. Kickoff from the WoodPEC is scheduled for 7:00 PM.