Senior Ben Ahrens scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the University of Mary Washington men's soccer team past Johns Hopkins University, 2-1, in the UMW Classic on Saturday evening. The Eagles defeat the Blue Jays for the second straight year in overtime and improve to 2-0 on the season.
In the early going, the two teams didn't have many looks at goal. The first real look came for Johns Hopkins at the 14:30 mark, but Ken Kurtz was right there to make the save. Just two minutes later, Josh Kirkland fired one from distance but was saved by JHU.
Over the next few minutes, the Blue Jays were in attack mode and scored a goal at the 30th minute to go up 1-0. The Eagles pushed for a goal before the end of the half but came up empty.
As UMW did in yesterday's game, they came out attacking in the second half and scored a goal just four minutes in. Idrissa Barrie played the ball to Gabriel Soriano in the box and Soriano was able to finish past the goalie and tie the game at 1-1.
The Eagles stayed on the attack in the second half seeking a second goal. They recorded five corner kicks and six shots, two of which were saved over the course of the second half. The back line of the Eagles did an impressive job as they didn't allow JHU to record a shot in the entirety of the half. UMW was unable to garner that elusive second goal and was forced to go into overtime.
In the extra period, the Eagles picked up three quick corner kicks. UMW couldn't convert on the first two but were successful with the third. Soriano played a perfect ball in over the keeper's hands right to Ahrens to finish off and send the Eagles home with a 2-1 win.
UMW outshot JHU 14-4 and won the corner kick battle 10-3. Kurtz made two saves in goal for the Eagles.
UMW will be back in action on Saturday, 9/7, as they will travel Baltimore to take on Montclair St. at 3:30 pm as part of the Johns Hopkins Classic.