Lehigh University
No. 19 Penn
Evans' 2OT goal gives Koski 150th win at Lehigh
10/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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With the win, Lehigh head coach Dean Koski has now earned 150 victories in his 17-year career with the Mountain Hawks.
“I didn’t know it was number 150,” Koski said. “I think it’s not so much a special number for me but for everybody that’s played for Lehigh. Certainly I am grateful for the many guys that have put on a uniform and competed in games.”
The double-overtime victory also moves Lehigh’s record to 5-3-2 on the season and extends the team’s unbeaten streak to three games. The win also delivers Penn its first loss of the season after starting out with a 7-0-3 record in its first 10 games.
After the teams battled to a 1-1 tie through regulation and almost two full overtime periods, it appeared the teams would leave the field with a draw. Kyle Evans had different plans when he took the pass from Jim Taranto 30 yards from the goal. He turned and blasted a shot to the left side of the net for the game-winning score.
“You never know, and that’s why you play the overtime,” Lehigh head coach Dean Koski said. “We certainly wouldn’t have been disappointed in a tie given the team that Penn is. But we said in the overtime that we wanted to go for the win, and that was a great goal by Kyle Evans.”
Lehigh opened up the scoring with an Alex Weisberger goal in the 42nd minute. It was Weisberger’s first score of the season, but it was made possible by a play that won’t appear in the stat sheet. Jordie Ciuffetelli fired a long throw from the left sideline deep into the 18-yard box where Weisberger got his head on the ball for the goal.
The Quakers tied the score four minutes into the second half with an Omid Shokoufandeh goal that seemed to be the final score of the game, until Evans broke the tie with less than two minutes remaining in the final overtime period.
“Jordie did a great job stepping in for Mark Dangleis,” Koski said. “I think that Jordie all season long has shown capabilities of supporting us. He can play a number of different positions, and his long throw was a weapon for us.”
Lehigh returns to action on Saturday, October 11, at 7 p.m., when the Mountain Hawks take on the Holy Cross Crusaders at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
