Lehigh University
Cornell
O'Reilly lifts Lehigh to dramatic overtime win
9/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Lehigh jumped on the board very quickly when freshman Patrick Starsinic found the back of the net just 1:21 into the game off of a feed from junior Adam Williamson and the Mountain Hawks were in front 1-0. The game would remain that way until Cornell’s Scott Palguta netted a goal of his own at the 42:57 mark of the opening half to knot the contest up at one. The game would go into halftime tied at one goal apiece.
The second half featured many scoring opportunities for Lehigh, but no goals on the scoreboard. The two teams went back and forth for the duration of the second 45 minutes, but no one could find the back of the net. The game then headed for overtime, where neither team could score which forced a second overtime.
In the second overtime, O’Reilly took the ball and blasted it into the net to give the home team a dramatic victory and send the crowd home happy. Lehigh outshot the Big Red 18-11 on the evening, while Cornell had six corners to the Mountain Hawks five. Sam Bishop sent back three Cornell shots on the evening, while David Mahoney stopped nine Lehigh shots.
“I thought we did well in the beginning and then we kind of leveled off. We didn’t bring it the way I would have liked for awhile there. The second half we settled down and played much better,” explained head coach Dean Koski. "Cornell did a nice job of disrupting what we were trying to get done and I give them credit. Our kids battled through right to the end and came through with the win.”
Lehigh returns to action on Friday, September 10 when the Mountain Hawks travel to
