Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
NU Battles Commodores to Tie, 3-3
9/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 17, 2004
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NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Northwestern twice held the lead in Friday night's match with host Vanderbilt in the Puma Soccer Classic, but ultimately the Commodores fought back to salvage a tie with NU, 3-3.
The Wildcats (4-1-1) had allowed only three goals over the entire season before letting up the trio to Vanderbilt in the match, but its high-powered offense came through to earn the tie.
The match was Northwestern's second overtime game of the season. The Wildcats defeated DePaul, 2-1, in double overtime last Sunday to win the championship of the Lakeside Classic. Last season NU played seven extra-time matches.
Vanderbilt (1-3-1) opened the scoring in the 15th minute, but NU netted two rapid-fire scores in the next three minutes to take a 2-1 advantage.
Freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade), who leads Northwestern in assists, scored his first collegiate goal on an assist from Daniel Chille (Lake Zurich, Ill./Stevenson) in the 17th minute to knot the score, 1-1.
One minute and 20 seconds later, Chille stole the ball in the backfield and set up sophomore Will Nicholas (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) who fired home a shot from the edge of the penalty area to give NU a 2-1 lead it would hold into the half.
The Commodores tied the score in the 56th minute, but Big Ten scoring leader Gerardo Alvarez (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) put home an unassisted goal 62:10 for his seventh goal of the season to give the Wildcats the lead back at 3-2.
Vanderbilt would not go away, however. John Krause scored his second goal of the match in the 74th minute for the Commodores to again tie the game and send it into overtime.
With less than two minutes remaining in the second overtime period, junior Kevin Earnest (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) headed a shot on goal for NU, but it was saved.
After goalkeeper Justin Pines (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) started for NU and played 90 minutes for the first time this season, junior Brian Heckenbach (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs) played the overtime periods in goal for the Wildcats, making one save to preserve the tie.
The pair had previously played one half each in NU's first five matches.
More information on the tournament including live stats can be found by linking to the Puma Soccer Classic Web site.
Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CDT Sunday against Eastern Illinois in the 'Cats second match of the Puma Soccer Classic.
