THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran men's soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw in double overtime against Whittier on Wednesday night at William Rolland Stadium. With both teams coming off double overtime losses in their previous games, the play was aggressive throughout the night with each squad looking for a victory.
The Poets got on the board early in the 12th minute when sophomore forward James Suri broke free from a group of Kingsmen defenders. Suri broke to the right side and shot across his body, past the goalie and into the left corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead.
CLU was not short of opportunities as they chased the lead in the first half. In the 22nd minute off a free kick, Thiago Gaglianone headed the ball towards the goal but narrowly missed to the left of the goal. One minute later, Logan Cone found himself in front of the goal with an open shot but hooked it wide.
The Violet and Gold, however, would keep the chances coming and in the 31st minute, Nick Baldi lined a shot straight to the back of the net after a scuffle for the ball in the box.
That would be the end of the scoring but the effort from both sides left an intense atmosphere in the stadium. In all, there were 42 fouls, 9 yellow cards and 2 red cards as both teams played hard throughout the game.
The Kingsmen played tough defense all night including a pair of game saving plays down the stretch. With two minutes left in the second half, Whittier had the ball in the open field looking to score, but Cone tracked him down and made a textbook slide tackle to win the ball back.
As play went on to the first overtime, goalie Jack Duncan made a diving stop on a Poet attack that would have surely been in for goal.
CLU had one decent look at a game-winner in the second overtime, as Tal Zaiet found himself with the ball just above the top of the box but missed the shot just left of the goal.
The two sides matched each other in shot attempts with 11 apiece, while the Kingsmen held the edge in shots on goal 3-2. Baldi and Cone led CLU with three shots each and Zack Larson and Gaglianone both added two.
Cal Lutheran (2-2-2, 1-1-1 SCIAC) will look to win their first conference home game when they take on Pomona-Pitzer at William Rolland Stadium Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: WC 1, CLU 1 - 2OT
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