| | Published November 12th, 2008
| SMC Men Drop Double Overtime Soccer Match
| | By Kevin D. Shallat |  | | Bryan VanDoorninck (10) Photo Tod Fierner
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Sunday, Nov. 9 marked the beginning of a final three game home stand for the Saint Mary's men's soccer team as they played host to the University of San Francisco. Despite the Gaels 3-3-3 WCC record going into this match, they have showed that they can compete with the best teams in the league. The Gaels were able to split wins against a league leading San Diego team this year.
Sunday they looked to establish themselves as a real threat in the conference with a chance to knock off the second place San Francisco Dons. The Gaels came close, as they were able to keep the Dons scoreless in regulation and overtime. However, they were unable to stop the Dons from knocking in a goal in double-overtime to lose the match 1-0.
On a brisk day game at Saint Mary's Stadium that saw more of the moon than the sun, neither team could muster enough offensive power to generate any goals in regulation.
Saint Mary's goalkeeper Jason Badger established his dominance both with his play and with his voice. The talented keeper was as vocal as possible, acting as another coach on the field for the Gaels. Several times his instructions saved his team from touching the ball before it went out of bounds and losing possession in key moments of the match. Badger finished the game with 12 saves on the day.
Unfortunately for the Gaels, Badger could only do so much as a protector of the goal. Saint Mary's struggled mightily to establish an offensive rhythm. The Gaels successfully set up their offense from mid-field, but were unable to pass the ball effectively near the San Francisco goal.
Despite San Francisco's 13-3 advantage in shots on goal, the Gaels did a good job in keeping the Dons scoreless for roughly 99 minutes. Both Corey Heldreth and Scott Eberhardt played a solid defensive game for Saint Mary's. For most of the game, the Gaels were able to shut down Conor Chinn, San Francisco's star player.
With 17 minutes remaining in the second half, the Gaels had their best opportunity to score in the game. After Dominic Smith met the San Francisco goalkeeper head on, his shot was deflected to a wide-open Yousef Samy. With San Francisco's goalkeeper out of position, Samy had an opportunity to take a long distance shot for the Gaels. As the crowd stood on its feet in anticipation of a goal, the shot sailed wide right for the mid-fielder. Samy led the Gaels with two shots on the day.
In double overtime, Chinn finally struck for a goal in the 100th minute of play for his eighth goal in nine games. Chinn took a one-timer from the cross from teammate Justin Kendro. Chinn's shot hit the far right upper corner of the goal to end the game. With the loss, the Gaels move to 4-9-4 (3-4-3WCC), and the Dons improve to 8-8-2 (6-3-1WCC).
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 | | Jared Medina (6) Photo Tod Fierner
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA