Men’s Soccer Rises to the Occasion in Overtime Thriller

USAF Academy, Colo. - Air Force battled to a 2-1 double-overtime win over UTRGV (6-4, 1-2 WAC), Saturday afternoon at Cadet Soccer Stadium. The eighth-ranked Falcons improve to 10-1, 3-0 WAC, with their 10^th-straight win of the season, breaking the previous record of nine-straight wins held by the 1986 team.

The Falcons' offense controlled the ball for the majority of the match as their suffocating style of defense yielded no easy outs for the Vaqueros. Air Force dominated the stat sheets in the first half, taking eight shots while holding UTRGV to none.

The first strike came in the 80^th minute as Tucker Bone fielded the ball into the Vaqueros' territory, making a quick pass to Austin Dewing who took one-touch left-footed toe-ball across the frame where Klint Parker capitalized on the vacant side of the goal. The goal marked Parker's third of the season while Bone and Dewing were both credited with an assist.

The Vaqueros refused to go quietly, upping the intensity of their attack. In a rare opportunity, UTRGV found themselves behind the Falcons' defensive line where a cross to a quick touch yielded the equalizing goal in the 88^th-minute. Air Force was taken to overtime for the second time this season.

UTRGV settled into their defense in overtime, playing conservatively and seemingly content to leave the Academy with a draw. The Falcons took two shots to UTRGV's one in the first overtime period. In the 5^th minute of the second overtime period, Air Force came across a corner kick opportunity. Luis Martinez, who recorded two set-piece assists in Thursday's match, lined up for the corner kick. The left-footed corner-kick specialist sent a brilliant ball into a loaded box where a towering James Sims soared into the sky and headed the ball to the ground where it bounced past the UTRGV keeper into the side net. The goal marked the defenseman's first of the season.

At the final whistle, Air Force outshot UTRGV, 15-5. It is the fifth-straight opponent that the Air Force defense has held to single-digit shots. The Falcon defense made up of Joe Ortiz, David Louthan and Nick Blessing, anchored by Sims, clocked all 104 minutes on the pitch. Sims' led the squad with five shots while Dewing and Bone tallied three apiece. Falcon keeper Andrea Seazzu recorded his 10^th-straight win in the Falcons' cage, recording three saves on the day.

"It was a well-deserved win for as many shots as we took," said head coach Doug Hill. "I was pleased with the patience of our guys, it's easy to get impatient when playing a team that holds the ball in their half waiting for a counter attack, but we were disciplined"

"I thought we could have put the game away earlier," continued Hill. "We play a little faster than they do and I knew if we could get one in early that we could open up the game, but sometimes they don't come early and you have to grind through it. We had to beat 11 players to get the goal and we did it. We've been successful in our set pieces this year and that's what got it done for us today. It was a good win."

The Falcons return to the road for a pair of WAC match-ups against CSU Bakersfield and Cal-Baptist, Oct. 5 and Oct. 7, respectively. On Friday, Air Force and CSU Bakersfield will meet for the 13th time in program history on the Main Soccer Field at 11:00 a.m. PT; the Falcons leads the series, 7-4-1. On Sunday, Cal-Baptist and Air Force will convene on the Lancers' pitch for their first-ever meeting at 1 p.m. PT.

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