Men's Soccer 9/8/2012 2:12:00 AM

Macias' Golden Goal Lifts TAMIU Over Metro State

Box Score DENVER, CO – With the fate of their season hanging in the balance, the Texas A&M International University men’s soccer team dug deep and rallied to score two unanswered goals and upend Metro State University in double overtime 2-1 Friday night in Denver.

In the 103^rd minute with the game knotted at one and TAMIU playing a man short, Diego Manzano-Cano intercepted an errant pass at midfield and found a wide open Jovany Macias streaking up the sideline. Macias, who had his nose bloodied earlier in the match, found sweet retribution firing a shot to the second post just over the outstretched hands of the keeper to give the Dustdevils the win.

Head Coach Claudio Arias said Friday night’s win was a reward for all of the sacrifices his team has been willing to make.

“I like to think that adversity creates character. With the way things went here today – playing in these conditions, with a man short, and against a very talented team – it feels like we learned a lot about who we are and what we can accomplish. It was a very physical game; Metro State finished with 22 fouls compared to only seven for us, but we never lost our cool. We maintained our composure, and delivered when it mattered.”

Mark Herschberger put the Roadrunners on the board first, scoring a goal in the 36^th minute. TAMIU trailed 1-0 at the half, but came out looking like a new team in the second period outshooting their opponents 12-2.

“Our attitude changed,” said Coach Arias. “During the break we talked about what was important to us as a team. When we came back out, we played with a sense of urgency. Our guys realized that if we wanted a chance to accomplish our goal of making it to the national tournament, this was a game we had to have over a tough regional opponent.”

Eduardo “Wayo” Gonzalez picked a perfect time to score his first goal of the season, equalizing for the Dustdevils in the 69^th minute from the top of the box off a corner kick by Juan Narvaez. As tension grew late in the second half, things began to get chippy. Six of the eight total yellow cards were issued in the second half and Joan Vallejo was sent off in the 87^th minute after receiving his second yellow of the game.

With neither team able to breakthrough before the end of regulation, the game moved into overtime. In the first extra period the Dustdevils outshot the Roadrunners 3-1, but were not able to tally the game winner. Just three minutes into the second overtime, Macias finally broke through lifting TAMIU to a 2-1 win.

Keeper Jesus “Chuy” Cisneros picked up the win for TAMIU finishing with four saves on the night. The Dustdevils ended with a 21-9 advantage in shots as well as a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks.

TAMIU improves to 1-1 on the season and will now travel to Golden, Colorado to battle no. 11 Colorado School of Mines at 1:00 p.m. CST.

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