EAST BOSTON – For the second straight season, the men's soccer match between Mount Ida College and Suffolk University went to two overtimes and again, this year, the teams played to a 1-1 draw, this time in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at James A. Sartori Stadium at East Boston Memorial Park.
Juan Brenes (Santo Domingo, D.R.) scored in the 67th minute for Mount Ida, helping the Mustangs equalize after Suffolk had scored 21 minutes into the first half.
Brenes notched his second goal of the season when he converted a corner kick off the boot of Alexi Flores (Central Falls, R.I.), who earned his first collegiate point with the assist.
Suffolk (0-3-1, 0-0-1 GNAC) scored first for the first time in four outings this season. Off Jordan Casey's free kick, Ben Daniels sent a hard shot at Mustang sophomore Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.), who could not get a hand on the ball as the Rams' captain gave the host a 1-0 lead.
The game turned with back to back Mount Ida corners. Off Flores' first kick, Shawn Bernardo's (Peabody, Mass.) header was turned aside by Nicholas Chamma, sending the Mustangs back to the corner. The second time around the ball lofted off of Flores' cleat to Brenes, who used his head to bury the ball and even the game at 1-1 with just over 23 minutes remaining.
Looking to get back in the driver's seat, Suffolk's Eugenio Ottino dribbled through the defense for a one-on-one opportunity with Ford, but Ottino's kick from inside the box rattled off the post.
With the Rams keyed in on Ottino's attempt, Mount Ida sophomore Billy Zeba (Lexington Park, Md.) picked up the rebound off the post and coasted down the pitch, but Chamma made a diving save to keep things even at one goal apiece.
Mount Ida was persistent on keeping the match just 90 minutes as they piled on shots, but with help from the Rams' defense, Chamma turned away the Mustangs attempts and sent the game into extra sessions.
At the midway point of the first overtime, Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) and Jordain Williams (Colchester, Vt.) went on a break, but Williams' shot clang off the outside of the post.
With just over a minute remaining in the first OT, Mount Ida had another chance with an empty net, but Bernardo's try went too high. Suffolk came back with a shot by Hamada Hazzoum, but the freshman's attempt bounced off the post as well.
Suffolk's best attempt came on a corner kick with three minutes remaining in the contest, but Fernando Tome's header went too high.
The shots were just about even from both sides, with Mount Ida holding a slim 15-14 edge, but the Rams had an 8-6 advantage with shots on target.
Mount Ida (1-2-1, 0-0-1 GNAC) hosts Mitchell on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7:00 pm in a non-conference affair, while Suffolk travels to Lesley Monday night for a 8 p.m. game.