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NCAA men's tournament Ciklic header sends Stony Brook past Yale 2-1 in overtime.
Stony Brook went into extra time for the fifth straight outing, going 4-0-1 in that span. The Seawolves' reward for winning was a second-round visit to No. 5 Connecticut, which had a first-round bye. "We were very excited about playing a quality team like Yale and they were a handful all game," SBU coach Cesar Markovic said. "We have veterans who have been through these types of games and we have a great survival instinct. It seems like we've been playing one-goal games forever. We were really happy to get a win here and happy to move on to face UConn." Early in the first of two possible 10-minute overtime period, Seawolves senior midfielder Douglas Narvaez began a Seawolves' counterattack, sending a ball from the middle to sophomore midfielder Tamer Mohamed on the left flank. Mohamed carried into the penalty and fired a cross that Ciklic headed into the far right corner for the 2-1 final decision at 93:42. Yale (10-4-4) started strongly and took a 1-0 lead after 3:35. Freshman defender Alex Guzinski sent a through ball to the right side where junior striker Gage Hills chipped a shot into the far left corner. Yale controlled the pace of the game throughout the remainder of the half, but could not extend its advantage. Stony Brook (13-4-4), which set a school record with its 13th win, responded soon after intermission. Senior forward Chris Megaloudis passed to Mohamed, who dribbled through the box and fired a shot past Yale sophomore goalkeeper Erik Geiger for a 1-1 tie at 47:28. Soon after a big stop by Seawolves sophomore keeper E.J. Xikis kept the score even. Hills broke through the Stony Brook defense and went in alone on Xikis and drilled a shot down the center that the keeper punched away. Xikis finished with seven saves, while Geiger turned away five for Yale. |
