Nana Akyen scored with 43 seconds left in regulation and goalkeeper Matthew McNab made two saves in the second overtime to help Westmont gain a 2-2 tie with No. 15-ranked Azusa Pacific on Tuesday at Thorrington Field.
It was a huge result for the Warriors, who are battling for a playoff spot in the Golden State Athletic Conference.
Ayken, a freshman from Dunn School, got the ball after a Azusa Pacific defender was unable to clear a long ball sent into the Cougars’ end of the field by Scott Williams. The ball dropped at the feet of Akyen, who dribbled left, beat a defender and faced goalkeeper Joe Geletko one on one
Akyen hit a left-footed shot past the diving Geletko and inside the far post to knot the score.
“Nana’s goal was an amazing piece of individual brilliance,” said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf. “He is a talented player who put that talent on full display. Once he gets going he is very difficult to deal with. On that goal, he showed off his combination of quickness, pace and very tight control.
“We may look back on that goal as a big moment in our season.”
The Warriors (7-3-4, 2-3-2 GSAC) fell behind early in the match. Azusa’s Vinicius Dantas drove to the goal from the left side and crossed the ball to Alex Earl who slid in and knocked the ball off the near post. The ball ricocheted off the post and into the goal in the 14th minute.
It was only the third time this season that the Warriors conceded the first goal of a match. The other two times where in blowout losses to Biola and Fresno Pacific. This time, however, they would bounce back, tying the game less than two minutes later.
Akyen started it with a drive up the center of the field with Isaac Thompkins on his right and Ben Gordon to his left. He passed the ball to Thompkins who served it across the goal where Gordon was crashing the net. Gordon took one touch to put the ball away.
The Cougars (12-3-1, 5-2-1) took a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute on a goal by Dantas.
Westmont fought back and thought it tied the score in the 85th minute, but the referee ruled that the ball didn’t completely cross the goal line. A moment later, the Cougars were called for a hand ball violation in the box.
On the penalty kick, Geletko guessed right on Doug Harrell’s shot and was able to punch the ball away.
Then Akyen came through with arguably the biggest goal of the season for Westmont.
“I told the team, ‘You added a page to Westmont soccer history. This is a game that people will talk about,’ “ said Wolf.
“We have an incredible history with APU,” he added. “As I said to (Azusa Pacific head coach) Dave (Blomquist) after the game, there just aren’t any conventional games (between us). Every game has some twist or turn that nobody saw coming.”
As the teams started overtime, a thunderstorm moved over the area and play was suspended for about 30 minutes.
The Warriors held on in the overtime periods and left the field with a positive feeling.
“My biggest hope for today was that we would take another step forward,” said Wolf. “We have had a couple of situations where we have gotten throttled and then bounced back. I think the Point Loma game on Saturday was the second of those bounce backs. My hope was that we could keep it moving in the right direction. I thought all-in-all we were able to do that.”
