Bridgewater Eagles Draw Maroons in Defensive Battle

Men’s Soccer 0-0 in Double Overtime

ODAC+competition

Evan Maxey

Bridgewater College’s ODAC competition. The men’s soccer team currently has an ODAC record of 0-0-1.

Evan Maxey, Staff Writer

Bridgewater, Va. – After a hard-fought two halves of play, the Eagles and Maroons would go to extra minutes not once, but twice. The Eagles tied the Maroons of Roanoke College in Sunday’s regular season opener. With the draw, both the Eagles and Maroons start off the season 0-0-1, overall and in ODAC play.

Roanoke controlled the ball much of the first half, taking 12 shots with four of them on goal in the first period. Sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Deutsch had four saves for the Eagles, while allowing zero goals to score in the first half. The Eagles offense struggled early, being held to only one shot in the first forty-five minutes of play. 

The first half ended scoreless, but was still competitive. The Maroons took a total of 12 shots while the Eagles were held to just one. BC, however, had a staggering ten saves. The Eagles were fighting themselves early with eight first half fouls, while Roanoke only had five. 

The second half of play brought much of the same of what occured in the first. Both teams would fight hard, but ultimately ended up scoreless again after the 90th minute. Again, the Maroons controlled much of the possession in the second half by taking six shots, while the Eagles managed three. 

Both defenses continued to flex their muscles in the second half by not allowing a single goal. Both goalkeepers recorded two saves each in the second period of play. 

With 2:46 left in the second half, Roanoke tried to make a late push with a shot on goal being saved by Deutsch for his sixth save of the game. This sent BC and Roanoke to their first set of extra minutes of the day. 

The first overtime period had even more defense from both squads. Roanoke ended up taking five shots in the extra period, allowing BC’s Deutsch to tally three more saves. The teams eventually headed into a second overtime period. 

In the final minutes of the game, both Bridgewater and Roanoke did not get a shot off, but would continue to play great defense. The Maroons took seven shots throughout both overtime periods, while the Eagles took none. 

On a day where the Eagles struggled offensively, there was a bright spot for BC. Deutsch tallied ten saves on the day, while not letting up a single goal. 

The Eagles will be back in action on Feb. 28, 2021 against Randolph-Macon, looking to secure their first win of the 2021 campaign.