Lyons unbeaten streak stays intact (4-0-1, last five)

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Wheaton College men's soccer team, ranked No. 15 overall in the latest D3soccer.com national poll and No. 18 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national rankings, played to a 0-0 double overtime tie against nationally ranked Coast Guard Academy on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action.

Wheaton outshot the Bears, 24-16, in the contest and also held a 12-2 advantage in corner kicks. The Lyons produced a 5-3 margin in shots, combined, between both overtime sessions highlighted by a pair of Travis Blair (Hastings, N.Y./Hastings) chances that were both turned away by Coast Guard senior goalkeeper Richie Burns (Long Beach, Calif.) in the final minutes of the contest at 104:21 and 108:29, respectively. Blair's best scoring opportunity out of the two came at the 104:21 mark when he struck a low, hard shot from the top of the 18-yard box, but Burns dove to his right and deflected the ball out of play to help maintain the shutout.

Burns finished the NEWMAC clash with a game-high ten saves, while Wheaton junior goalkeeper Matt Dickey (Newton, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon School) made six saves to record his sixth clean sheet this season and 16th overall in his career. Dickey now ranks No. 4 all-time on the career shutouts list surpassing Cole Davidson '10 and Drew Goodman '94, who both compiled 15 shutouts in their respective careers in a Wheaton uniform.

In the first half, the Lyons concluded the stanza with a 10-4 advantage in shots and a 4-2 margin in corner kicks. Burns stopped five shots including a pair of scoring bids by first-year forward Amara Sesay (Bronx, N.Y./Martin Luther King) and junior midfielder/forward Stephan Nkom (Douala, Cameroon/Indian Springs School) with under five minutes left to play in the opening frame.  

Coast Guard nearly found the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute of the contest with back-to-back shots at the doorstep, but Dickey and Wheaton's back line thwarted both attempts to keep the game level. Coming off of a restart, Bears' sophomore Caelan Harshaw (Cary, N.C.) sent a ball into the middle of the box from 40 yards out to classmate Brad McNell (Antioch, Calif.) who headed the ball on goal but Dickey made a sprawling save to knock the ball down.  Senior Matthew Bogdan (Lexington Park, Md.) quickly put the rebound back on net but a Wheaton defender was there to head it off the line and clear the ball out of danger.

Midway through the second half, Wheaton senior Matheus Goncalves (Framingham, Mass./Worcester Academy) managed to find space down the left sideline and sent a cross into the Coast Guard penalty area. First-year Louis Chavez (Porterville, Calif./Northfield Mount Hermon School) gathered the service and sent a shot on goal that got past Burns but was eventually stopped by a Bears defender and cleared out of play.

Wheaton continued to press as senior Scott Enman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Packer Collegiate Institute) received a through ball down the center of the field that put him one-on-one with Burns. Enman then fired a shot on goal but Burns come off his line quickly and made a sprawling save to his right snuffing out the Lyons' attack.

Once regulation ended, defense continued to be the theme in overtime as neither team was able to break the deadlock despite accumulating eight shots total in both sessions.

Wheaton (14-2-2, 5-0-1 NEWMAC) hosts Colby-Sawyer on Tuesday, October 28 for a non-conference matchup at 7 p.m. Coast Guard (13-1-2, 4-1-1 NEWMAC), ranked No. 14 by the NSCAA poll and No. 20 by D3soccer.com, welcomes Springfield to its campus on Saturday, November 1 for a NEWMAC contest at 1 p.m.

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