The New York University men's soccer team's 2022 season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to Williams College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday, November 12, at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA.
The Violets trailed 1-0 after Williams' Henry Kirkman scored with less than a minute left in the first half (44:15). The goal came off a throw-in and was assisted by both Marshall Miller and Nick Boardman.
NYU kept pressing in the second half and was finally rewarded when
Talal Said was taken down in the box at the 78:18 mark and converted the penalty kick to knot the score.
"We knew it would be a tough match. Williams defends very well," said Head Coach
Kim Wyant. "We knew it would be tough to break down their defensive posture. But, we did a much better job in the second half. Unfortunately, we just came up short."
The game went into overtime and again Kirkman put the Ephs ahead, scoring at 92:19 off an assist from David Wang.
"We've been down before. We didn't panic," said captain
Nicholas Suter. "We got the tying goal, but it just didn't work out in the end."
With sudden death no longer in play, the Violets still had time to try and notch a tying goal.
The game went into the second 10-minute overtime and with less than two minutes remaining, the Violets made a final push.
Arkan Tahsildaroglu made a few dazzling moves and got a clear shot off, but it was saved by Williams' goalkeeper Ben Diffley. Just seconds later,
Bryce Lexow wound up for a shot but it just missed high.
That was the last shot for NYU as their season came to an end.
"Our season had its ups and downs in the beginning," Wyant explained. "But over the final nine games of the regular season we were six wins one loss and two ties so we came into the tournament very very strong. I thought we came up in the first round against a very good opponent, but overall I thought the season was a tremendous success."
The Violets finished the campaign with a 9-5-3 record. It was their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
