SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Ryan Meuth scored with 23 seconds left to help Swarthmore College Men's Soccer avoid overtime on Wednesday night against the St. Mary's College of Maryland Seahawks. The Garnet (4-3) handed the Seahawks (6-1-1) their first first loss of the season.
With the threat of overtime looming after the Seahawks rallied to even the game at 2-2 with 5:03 remaining, Swarthmore found a way to end the game in regulation. A foul about 30 yards out on the right wing set up a free kick for Swarthmore's Tommy Sheehan. Sheehan fired a dangerous shot towards the upper right corner of the goal, but had it fended away on a leaping save. The rebound bounced back into the box where Billy Evers attempted to volley the ball into the net. Evers' shot struck the left post and traveled to the foot of Ryan Meuth about three yards out. Meuth connected and kept the shot straight, knocking it into the back of the net.
The Garnet had waited until the very end of the first half as well, getting on the board in the 44th minute. Freshman Felix Laniyan slipped a pass across the 18 to classmate Zach Viscusi who had lost his defender and tapped in a right-footed shot.
The Seahawks responded with a goal three minutes into the second half, but Swarthmore regained the lead in the 69th minute. Senior Billy Evers earned his first assist of the night with a cross from the left side into the box that Michael Nafziger flicked back off his head and into the bottom corner of the net for the score.
Swarthmore out-shot St. Mary's 17-10 on the night.
Wednesday's win may have had a little extra significance for Garnet head coach Eric Wagner. Wagner had previously coached at St. Mary's and had coached St. Mary's current head coach Alun Oliver. Wagner left St. Mary's as the then-winningest coach in that program's history and on Wednesday, Wagner moved into a tie for the most collegiate varsity wins by a Swarthmore Men's Soccer head coach. Wagner's 170 career victories in 15 seasons tie him Swarthmore coaching legend Robert Dunn.
The Garnet return to conference play on Saturday. They travel to Johns Hopkins University for a 4 p.m. match.
? Swarthmore College Men's Soccer is celebrating its 100th varsity season in 2016. As part of the celebration, Swarthmore Men's Soccer is collecting memories and stories from program alumni and fans to connect to Swarthmore history. If you have a story you'd like to share, please email it to head coach Eric Wagner at ewagner1@swarthmore.edu
