Knight battle to an OT loss against College of St. Joseph's (Rutland)
Vermont Tech 2, College of St. Joseph's (Rutland) 3 (OT)
Connor Strom (North Attleboro, Ma.) received the ball from Hunter Grace in the 22nd minute of the first half to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. The Knights first half was a battle that took place in the middle 3rd of the field while both side played content with few opportunities in the first 22 minutes of play.
Strom's goal s lifted the Knights for the rest of the 1st half as they started to control play. Creating a few quality chances to end out the first half. Phillip Hepburn (Milton, VT) received the ball on and overlapping run to beat the defense but could not finish. While the Knights got similar chances moments later and failed to capitalize they were pleased to have 1-0 lead.
Kris Streitmatter (Federal Way, Washington) would slip Connor Strom (North Attleboro, MA) another ball splitting the St. Joseph's defense giving Strom a clear chance a goal. Strom calmly slipped it past the charging Kyle Milligan the St. Joseph's keeper. Give the Knights a 2-0 lead with 30 minutes of soccer to play.
The Knights David Mattern (South Royalton, VT) would be called for a trip in the top of the penalty box in the 77th minute provide a penalty kick to St. Joseph's Keven Andrade who strike a firm shot to the lower left corner of the goal.
St. Joseph's would create another opportunity in the 85th minute as Delcio Rocha found himself open at the top of the 18 yard box as he received a pass from Amani Francois who was able to create some space in the right corner of the 18 yard box and drop it back to Rocha.
In the 99th minute St. Joseph's created an opportunity that resulted in a last minute of the 1st overtime period corner kick. As the Knight's knocked down the corner it fell to the feet of Amani Francois who got a shot within the 6 yard box that Knights keeper Scott Durkee (Chelsea,VT) had no opportunity to save it. Durkee had 6 saves on 9 shots.
The Knights fall to 3-3 in the conference they look to improve their conference record this Saturday as they travel to Hampshire College for a 1pm contest.
