OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Red Raider and Mainland Mustang boys soccer teams were scoreless for the first 76 minutes of their Sept. 30 game. In a hectic final three and a half minutes, both teams scored to push the game to overtime, which also ended scoreless.
The teams walked away with a 1-1 tie.
After an evenly matched first 65 minutes, Ocean City’s lineup was completely shaken up after the Raiders were assessed a red card. The penalty immediately put the Raiders down a man.
With the man advantage for the rest of the game, Mainland turned up the pressure on offense to try to get a quick goal and pelted shots at the Raiders’ freshman goalie Aiden McHale.
McHale stood tall in net and made the most of a tough situation with a save and deep kick to midfield that Ocean City reined in. The Raiders took control of the ball and despite being shorthanded, Levi Martenz and the Raiders got a golden opportunity to score with a corner kick.
Martenz’s kick was perfectly centered for Kaius Sypalis, who used his head to break the stalemate and give Ocean City an unlikely 1-0 lead with just over three minutes left. Sypalis was met in the corner of the field by the entire Raider sideline in celebration for his heads-up play.
“I was really impressed with Ocean City’s toughness and their resilience after having a couple of things go wrong for them early,” Mainland head coach Alex Weidman said. “Of course, I was proud of our own guys’ toughness and resilience to respond.”
Weidman’s team took the shock of the shorthanded goal and shook it off immediately. A sense of urgency took over the offense and cumulated into a free kick opportunity by Jay Velasquez. His free kick was thrown into a pile of Mustangs and Raiders in front of the goal.
Eventually the pile was split open by sophomore James Ryan, who got control of the ball and scored. Ryan was similarly met with a mob of Mustangs in the corner of the field as they forced overtime.
“It’s not exactly how we drew it up but I’m glad we were able to fight back,” Weidman said. “We just threw numbers at the goalkeeper and luckily it did bounce our way. Proud of our boys for pulling a result out of a tough game.”
Ocean City remained a man down throughout the two 10-minute overtime periods but stayed competitive. McHale and the defensemen in front of him made every necessary play to keep Mainland at bay.
Mustang goalkeeper Brandon Dionicio had a key tackle near the end of overtime that shut down a solid shot attempt for Ocean City.
The efforts of both teams eventually led to the first draw in the rivalry since the 2012 season.
“Both teams always play hard and together and believe this game is more than just a win on your record,” Weidman said. “I think you saw both teams fight their hardest.”
Mainland’s record was pushed to 5-2-3 with the draw and extended its unbeaten streak to 8 games. The Mustangs started the year 0-2 and climbed back into the standings with a solid streak. One of their wins was against the 2-5-2 Raiders back on Sept. 10 by a score of 2-1.
Ocean City bounced back two days later with a 1-0 win over Cedar Creek High School. Ricardo Herrera scored the game-winning goal in the second half to end Ocean City’s week on a high note. With a 3-5-2 record, the Raders’ next game is at home against Vineland at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.
The Mustangs finished the week with 8-2 St. Augustine Prep, which won 2-0. Mainland, now 5-3-3, will have another shot at Prep at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, on the road.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
