ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The University of Montevallo men's soccer team jumped out to quick 2-0 lead on Friday night, only to allow two goals in the second half. In overtime, however, the Falcons were able to claim victory, eventually earning the 3-2 win.
It did not take long for the Falcons to strike in this contest. At just over five minutes in, Jeffrey Hessenberger took a cross from Srdjan Dujkovic and scored his second goal of the year.
Dujkovic repaid Hessenberger after Hessenberger assisted on Dujkovic's goal the previous week against Delta State, the first goal of the year for Montevallo.
Hessenberger would again be on the helping end of a score just a few minutes later. At 12:32, Ram Gilad netted his first goal of the year off a ball by Hessenberger.
Again, a previous goal scoring combination was flipped, as Gilad had the assist on Hessenberger's first goal of the season last week.
The 2-0 Montevallo lead would hold for the remainder of the half.
Eckerd did not waste any time digging into the lead in the second frame. Three minutes into the half, the Tritons drew a penalty kick. Nick Jackson buried it for his fourth score of the year and cut the lead in half.
A few minutes later, Montevallo would get a break, as Eckerd would lose Wyeth Leemon to red card. This meant that the Falcons would play a man up for the remainder of the game.
Montevallo held on to their one goal lead until 79:50, when Antonio Alvarez scored his first goal of the year off the bench and evened the match up. Richard Ainscough was credited with the assist on the Alvarez goal.
90 minutes would prove to be an insufficient amount of time for these two schools, and this game would need overtime.
At 101:57, the game would finally have a winner. After surrendering their two goal lead in the second half, the Falcons were still able to claim victory as Sergio Gonzalez won the game on a header in double overtime.
Montevallo moves to 2-1 on the season, and Eckerd falls to 2-2.
In the match, the Falcons managed six more shots than the Tritons. Montevallo also had nine corner kicks to just two from Eckerd.
After another three-point night, Hessenberger now has six points in three games this season.
The Falcons will be back in action this Sunday, continuing their Florida road trip at Tampa.
First kick is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CST.
